


Jeremiad

by Firefury_Amahira



Series: The Ultimate Saga [1]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Angst, Dark, Episode: s02e08-09 The Ultimate Enemy, Gen, Heavy Angst, Tragedy, Violence, hate!ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-09
Packaged: 2018-08-07 10:02:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 61,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7710802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firefury_Amahira/pseuds/Firefury_Amahira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You make many choices in your life. Some choices you find yourself regretting for the rest of your life. Bad choices lead to regret, sorrow, guilt, and shame. Bad choices can end your entire world, rob you of everything you cared about, everyone you loved. For Danny, that choice was to cheat on an exam. For Valerie, that choice was to point a gun at her friend upon learning his secret.</p><p>Fate is cruel, and sometimes surviving is the cruelest fate of them all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: The End

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. Butch Hartman does. I would never dream of making money off his work, this is but one fanatic's homage. So please don't sic the rabid lawyer hordes upon me, there's not much for them to sue out of me.
> 
> This was originally posted to my FFN account almost a decade ago, the first story in what would later become a trilogy-in-four-parts that I am finally bringing over to AO3. This iteration of "the saga" (I really do need to come up with a proper name for the entire collection) is mostly unaltered from the original, save for typo and formatting fixes that slipped through in the original FFN run.

**Prologue - The End**  
"In those silent shades of grey  
I will find a place  
To escape the endless night  
To find a new sun"  
- _"The Magic of the Wizard's Dream" - Rhapsody_

"Are you sure about this, Valerie?" Paulina asked me for the eighth time today. "I mean, what if it's a trap?"

I sighed, checking my equipment over one more time. "After everything we've survived, if these ghosts wanted me dead, they wouldn't be celebrating."

It still seemed surreal, knowing that it was _over_. No more running, no more hiding, no more dreading the nightmare, looking out into the ruins and wondering just where HE was. Even knowing he was gone, I still find myself always alert, checking all around me for trouble. After everything that had happened, who could blame me? Those instincts were what had kept me alive these past ten years.

"But why would they invite you? You **hunt** ghosts!" The Latina persisted, handing me one of the large ecto guns which I slung over my shoulder.  

"How should I know?" I snapped, growing impatient with her. "That big ghost with all the armor said something about some kind of truce. I guess when Phantom wasn't raising hell here, he was doing it in the ghosts' world or something."  

There weren't many of us left, and few of them came to see me off. Paulina, Kwan, Star, a handful of other people I'd known back in high school, and several of the people I'd worked with after ghost hunting became a necessary skill of survival instead of just a hobby. And all because of HIM.  

I hopped aboard my jet sled and lifted off to a chorus of cheers and well-wishes. Much as I didn't want to go to Wisconsin and see Vlad Masters again, he was my ticket to what was undoubtedly the strangest party I'd ever been invited to. I wasn't even sure why I had agreed to attend, given my rather well-known hatred for all things ghostly. I guess maybe that last battle had shaken me up more than I wanted to admit. I still had a hard time wrapping my mind around it. If Danny, Sam, and Tucker had truly traveled through time from the past, and that monster followed them back and was finally beaten... shouldn't the now have changed? If the past changed, wouldn't the future change too? Thinking about the implications of time travel gave me a headache. There was only the here and now, as I shot over the blasted plains and the shattered ruins toward the old hermit's castle. Or what little remained of the once-massive structure, at least.

With the stress and trauma of that last battle over with, I was left trying to come to terms with feelings I had forcibly ignored all these years. How I'd felt about Danny all those years ago, the terrible things I said to him, the last time we spoke before he died. I couldn't help but feel that in some small way, the creation of that monster was my fault. If I hadn't acted the way I did when he came to me for comfort, maybe he would never have gone to Wisconsin. Maybe he would have recovered from his grief. Maybe none of this would have happened. Maybe, maybe, maybe. There was no way now to know. Danny was dead, Amity Park destroyed twice over, the survivors left to pick up the pieces of shattered lives and to rebuild a broken society.  

And me? I had a party to attend. Where I would be the only living person in the room. I smiled without humor as I made my way toward Vlad's place. I suppose it would be considered witty to think I would be the life of the party, but the merit of such wit had been lost years ago in the desperate fighting. I still wasn't certain why I had accepted that big ghost's invitation. Perhaps out of guilt- it was my rash actions regarding Danny that had led to his death and the creation of that cruel shadow of him, Phantom. Some sort of atonement, taking those first baby steps away from the hatred and anger that had sustained me all these years toward some sort of understanding. After all, Danny had walked a fine line between the human world and the ghost world, and if I cared about him, the least I could do to honor his memory was to try and learn.

No matter how much I learn though, and how much Amity Park recovers, I would never be able to leave behind the guilt and pain of these past ten years. Those horrific events will never be far from my thoughts, the images haunting my nightmares like ghosts themselves.


	2. Blind Hate

**Blind Hate**  
"We get distracted by dreams of our own  
But nobody's happy while feeling alone  
And knowing how hard it hurts when we fall  
We lean another ladder against the wrong wall "  
_-"Reasons Why"- Nickel Creek_

I first heard about what happened at school the day after it happened. It was all everyone was talking about. First a minor explosion at the Nasty Burger from Phantom and some other ghost fighting. No one was seriously hurt in that blast, according to the rumor circuits in Casper High. But the day of the C.A.T. test, there was a second explosion. Someone had left the new sauce unattended, and it had detonated, destroying the Nasty Burger.

The casualties? There were several. Danny Fenton was the only witness, and apparently the only survivor. His friends, Tucker Foley and Sam Manson? Dead. His parents and older sister? Dead. Mr. Lancer, who was there for reasons no one was sure of? Dead. The tragedy was all over the news, classes were canceled so students (and teachers) could talk to grief counselors and so on. I was shocked. It was so sudden- just the day before, I was exchanging barbed words with Sam. Looking back, it was obvious she and I were both jockeying for position- we both had feelings for Danny. Now, I wonder how things may have played out if that explosion never happened.

I saw poor Danny that day- he looked absolutely awful. His clothes were rumpled, I doubt he had changed his clothes since the disaster, given the soot smudges all over his shirt. His usually clear blue eyes were hazy and bloodshot, he probably hadn't slept a wink. To say he looked like death warmed over probably wouldn't be too much of a stretch, he was pale, his complexion downright ashen. He walked past me, to his locker, stance radiating intense grief. I caught up to him, full of sympathetic concern.

"Danny, you okay?" Okay, I knew it was a stupid question, but it's also a standard question.

He just turned those hazy blue eyes on me. "No." Was all he mumbled. Looking back, I realize that the depths of his grief were more than just the grief over the loss of a loved one. After all, his entire family, his two best friends... just gone. And he was _there_ , he watched them die. When I later learned the entire story, I learned it was more than just grief weighing him down- there was guilt too. And shame.

"I know it's got to be hard, Danny." I stepped closer, giving my friend a tight hug, ignoring the stink of ash, sweat, and Nasty Sauce wafting from him. "If there's anything I can do, you just have to ask, okay?"

He went rigid in my embrace, as if struck by a sudden thought, then slowly slumped again. "Valerie-? Could you... um... would you meet me after school at the park?" His voice was raspy and so soft I had to strain to hear him even that close. "There's something... important, I need to tell you- I mean, show you... ur... well..."

I smiled sadly as he stumbled over his words. I was never as close to Sam or Tucker as he was, but the grief was shared, though I didn't feel it then as sharply as I do now. "I'll be there."

"Thanks, Val." He mumbled as I let him go. He excused himself, heading for the boys' bathroom. I don't know where he went after that, but knowing what I know now, I assume he probably went off somewhere alone.

I wasn't as upset as he was, I don't think. Not at first in any case. I suppose I forced myself to ignore my own feelings of grief- the Fentons were nice enough people, if eccentric, and despite their wariness, I had come to enjoy hanging around with Sam and Tucker when they were with Danny. I knew he'd lost basically everything, so I guess I put my own feelings to the side so I could try and help him. My feelings about what had happened couldn't hold a candle to his grief.

Needless to say, with several of the students so shaken by events, we were dismissed early, and I waited for Danny outside school for nearly a half hour before I decided he must have slipped off or left early. As I made my way to the park, I wondered what it was he wanted, no, _needed_ to reveal to me. I finally spotted him sitting on the ground, leaning against one of the fountains in the park. He must have found time to clean up, as he was wearing a fresh t-shirt and pair of jeans, and his mop of black hair no longer had specks of ash in it. He glanced up as I arrived, his eyes no better than when I saw him at school earlier. If anything, those troubled blue eyes held a hollow, haunted look now, with a pinch of desperation thrown in for good measure.

"Sorry if you were waiting." I began to sit down next to him, but he stood up quickly. "What did you want to tell-"

"Follow me." He ordered, though the command was more of a plea as he started for a secluded area of the park, shrouded from the main walkways by several trees and bushes. Confused by his uncharacteristic behavior, I followed quickly.

We walked in uncomfortable silence until we were well away from the few people in the park, then he stopped and turned to face me. I was surprised by the sheer desperation in his eyes as he searched my face for something. After a long moment of his unsettling scrutiny, he finally spoke. "Val, before I tell you... you've gotta promise me you'll let me finish. Please, don't freak out on me, please..." His voice cracked then, his tone desperate, pleading with me, terrified at something I couldn't begin to fathom.

"Danny, calm down!" I grabbed him by the shoulders. "Relax. Whatever it is, I swear I won't freak out or anything. We're friends, right?"

I watched as he forced himself to relax, taking several rattling deep breaths, clearly fighting to regain and maintain some semblance of composure. Once he seemed to be mostly calmed back down, he stepped back from me, his posture, expression, everything tense, like he was on pins and needles. I could only wonder at what it was he had to reveal, if it had him so jittery.

"Okay." He began, taking a deep breath. "Y'know how my parents are...were-" His voice caught as he corrected himself, I saw the fresh round of tears shining in his troubled eyes. I stepped next to him and wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulders as he paused then, struggling with the grief that was still so fresh.

"Danny... I'm sorry." I hugged him again. "It's okay to cry."

"You don't understand!" He cried out, pulling away suddenly, the sunlight now glinting off the fresh wet streaks down his face. "It was my fault! I couldn't-"

He was on the verge of a break down, I realized. I was about to say something when to my surprise, he forced himself back from the brink. I found myself gaping as he wiped his eyes, took several more deep breaths, and struggled to continue.

"They hunted ghosts." He stated simply. I nodded slightly- everyone knew about the Fentons and their ghost fixation. "You've seen the portal they built. But it... it didn't quite work at first. There was an accident-"

"An accident?" I knew about the portal, heck, I'd been on the other side of it in that freaky ghost world once or twice. I hadn't heard anything about an accident though. "What accident?"

He closed his eyes briefly, and I saw fresh tears slipping free. "They gave up on it. But Sam-" I heard his voice choke on the goth's name and knew then that he had cared dearly for her. "-she and Tucker talked me into taking a look inside it, to see if maybe we could make it work. So I put on one of the hazmat suits.... safety first." His voice carried a bitter sarcasm in it. "And went in."

My concern grew. This accident had to do with him? What had happened? Why was he telling me this now?

"While I was poking around in it... I accidentally hit a button. I don't really remember what exactly happened." I caught that desperate tone in his voice again as his story neared its climax. "There was a bright light, and it hurt... I thought I was gonna die. I thought I had at first... Oh please, Valerie, don't hate me for this, please-"

He looked at me again, and for a second I swear his eyes were brilliant green. I thought I must have been seeing things, but I felt the first stirrings of confused fear as he took a few more steps back and stood, legs spread slightly, bent at the knees, his arms held at his sides, fists clenched- a fighting stance I would later realize.

"I'm going ghost!" He declared, his voice quavering.

I'm pretty sure my jaw must have broken the sound barrier as it fell open. I watched, stunned stupid as a pair of glowing white rings materialized around Danny's waist, one traveling down to his feet before vanishing, the other passing over his head in a similar fashion. I gaped, felt my insides freeze as where the strange rings passed, t-shirt and jeans were replaced by an all-too-familiar black jumpsuit, tennis shoes replaced by white boots, bare hands covered by matching gloves, black hair suddenly bleached shimmering white.

A thousand odd puzzle pieces, hundreds of strange coincidences, dozens of unexplained events slammed into place; a hazy picture suddenly, dizzyingly crystal clear. Why Danny always seemed to be around whenever I lost sight of the ghost-boy. Why the Fentons' ghost-detection equipment always 'malfunctioned' when he was around. Why the ghost-kid had always seemed so hesitant to fight me, always running away at the first opportunity. Why there were so many ghost attacks at school. Why Danny had been found at the scene of any number of baffling rule violations. Several thoughts raced through my mind in that instant as those intense, sad, terrified shining green eyes bored into mine.

 _He's the ghost-boy?!_  
_How is this possible?!_  
_It was Danny that trashed Axion Labs?!_  
_Why?! WHY?!_  
_Danny is the ghost-kid?!_  
_The ghost-kid ruined my life-!_  
**_DANNY_ LIED _TO ME!_**

It was with that thought shrieking in my mind that I pulled one of my ecto guns out of my backpack and pointed it at Danny, senseless anger my first reaction to the shock. "It was **your** fault?! YOU did this?!" I wasn't making sense, I knew it, but I couldn't stop myself.

 _Valerie, this is wrong! It's Danny! Your friend! Don't do this!_ Some small rational part of my mind cried. I ignored that last chance to stop what I was doing, my own grief and shock fused into confusion and fueled by my long-standing and intense hatred for the ghost-boy I blamed for costing my dad his job and effectively ruining my social life. Such stupid, petty things to swear a bloody vendetta for, I realize now, but I was young and stupid and scared and confused then. Just a girl who didn't know what she was doing, didn't realize how she was being used.

I swear, if there was any one thing I could go back and change, my reaction to Danny's secret would be it. If I could go back in time, I would gladly beat my younger self over the head and scream at her until she came to her senses. Anything to undo the mistake I made then, that doomed us all and to this day kills me. No matter how hard I try, I will never forget the look on his face as I activated my battle suit and jet sled, the only sound between us for an instant the hum of my gun charging.

"Valerie-" He started to say, his voice tiny as he shrank away from me, the hurt clear in his voice, emerald eyes wide with terror.

"You LIED to me, ghost!" I shrieked, the shout punctuated by several wild shots, my aim horrible through tear-blurred eyes. "You ruined my life, you lied to me, you USED me!"

"Valerie, you promised-!" He cried out, dodging my haphazard barrage, no longer the wise-cracking, self-confident spook I had come to hate, but just a terrified, hurt, betrayed boy, who had gambled everything on his last chance and lost badly. I gave him no choice but to flee as I chased after him, firing, shouting wild accusations that were lost to the wind.

I was right on his tail and gaining rapidly on him when he simply vanished into thin air, an echo of a pained cry all that remained in the wake of my shouts, the sound of gunfire, and the roar of my sled's engines. I stopped short when I felt and saw several warm, moist droplets hit my visor from the force of my forward momentum as I had flown through the air he'd occupied just a second prior.

"Wha-?" I slowly began to regain my senses, reaching up to brush the drops away. I stared at the wet spots now on my glove, transfixed for several minutes as the realization slowly trickled into my conscious thought. _Tears?_

I looked up, looked around, now the only one in the sky, horribly alone. _He... was crying?_ I stood there, shocked, body trembling from the emotional exhaustion, before sitting heavily on the unyielding metallic surface of my sled, staring at my quaking hand, at the teardrops that must have been torn from Danny's face by the wind as he was flying.

With a voice trembling, I finally gave sound to the terrible realization tearing through my mind.

"Oh God, what have I _done_? Danny! Wait!"

Only silence answered my desperate cry.


	3. Vanished Just Like a Ghost

**Vanished Just Like a Ghost**  
"Change is what the world awaits  
Could that be peace or war?  
The answer no one knows  
Trusting the break of dawn"  
_-"Beyond the Bounds" - ZOE: The Second Runner_

Three days later, I was unconscious on the couch from exhaustion. I had only stopped home long enough to get some dinner, but three days of stress and worry and no sleep had taken their toll. I'd dropped off despite my stomach-turning desperation to find Danny, and didn't wake up until sometime the next day. My dad was sitting in a chair nearby when I awoke, his expression concerned.

"Valerie, we've done all we can. I'm sure the police can find him." My dad had filed a missing person's report with the police department when I told him Danny had gone missing, but I knew that the APPD had no chance of finding him. After all, how can you find what you can't see?

"I've gotta keep trying to find him." I protested as I dragged myself upright, stretching arms and legs stiff from all the extra exercise of the past three days. I'd skipped school despite my already sinking grades, skipped work, and all so I could scour Amity Park from top to bottom trying to find the ghost-boy. No, trying to find my friend. In addition to my worry, I was also kicking myself mentally. How could I have not realized sooner? Danny Fenton. Danny Phantom. Really, why hadn't the whole town figured it out? How could his own PARENTS not have realized it?

"Valerie, I know you care about Danny, but you're running yourself ragged. This isn't healthy." My dad persisted.

 _Neither is chasing off your best friend when he needs you the most._ I mentally retorted. "I can't just leave him out there by himself! What if something terrible happens because he's all alone and upset?"

My dad sighed and relented. I guess he knew that he couldn't talk me from my course of action, and that pulling parental rank on me would have only caused friction in the household. This was something I needed to do, but I couldn't tell him the whole reason why. All he knew was that Danny had run away and that I was worried sick about him. I didn't tell him that, by the way, Danny's the ghost-kid and I tried to kill him. I wasn't sure what I was going to do about that information.

Obviously Sam and Tucker had known from the start- it was now no wonder they both had grown so wary of me. After all, I had only sworn complete revenge on their best friend. The more I thought about it, the worse I felt. Danny had obviously known I was the red-clad hunter, and despite this, he still cultivated a friendship with me. That alone spoke volumes about his character, that he could forgive something like that. I don't think I could be so kind to someone who was trying to kill me. Which was all the more reason I had to find him. I had to make amends, I had to try and apologize for what I'd done.

As soon as I left the apartment, I made tracks for the distinct FentonWorks building. I could have flown on my jet sled, but if Danny was hiding from me, I figured he would be less likely to show himself if he saw me in my hunter outfit. For someone new to the area, the FentonWorks building with its giant bulbous contraption perched precariously on the roof would have looked ominous, or at least unnerving. To me, it was just another familiar part of the skyline, another landmark. And apparently deserted.

I walked up to the door, surprised that absolutely none of the lights were on, with the sole exception of the aircraft warning light at the very top. Usually the upper reaches of the building were bathed in a faint green glow from whatever contraptions were in that giant dome. But now the building was completely silent. I found that alone more unnerving than the thought of what would happen to that command center thing on top in an earthquake. The place just seemed dead, devoid of the usual chaos that surrounded it.

"Danny?" I banged on the door. "Danny, if you're there, open up! We need to talk!"

I paused in my pounding to listen for any sound from inside, while discretely checking my some of my ghost hunting gear. I heard nothing, and the small ghost radar in my pocket remained quiet. Either Danny was keeping real quiet and not using any ghost abilities, or the place was, in fact, empty. I sighed and stepped back from the front door. I'd been past Danny's house several times in my efforts to find him, but the results were the same- only silence. I crept into the alleyway behind the house and activated my jet sled so I could get a look inside the upper windows.

It was eerie, how normal things looked through the windows. Clutter in the kitchen and living room, half-finished inventions lying on the table, just waiting for Jack or Maddie Fenton to return and complete them. A tray of cookies sitting covered on the counter. A backpack, either Danny's or Jazz's, set carelessly on the floor, a few sheets of paper peeking out. Jazz's bedroom looked impeccable through the window, her desk neatly organized, a few posters on the walls. Then I peered into Danny's bedroom window, and the illusion of normalcy was gone. Instead of the expected clutter, the room was barren. A bed, a desk, and a bookshelf, all void of anything that would have identified the room as belonging to Danny. Gone were the posters of outer space and rocketships, the neglected piles of laundry, the odd assortment of chrome and green gadgets that seemed to pervade the Fenton household. Danny was clearly no longer living in the lonely house.

I felt my stomach clench up as the implications of that empty room hit me. He truly had run away. But to where? Was he alright? Would I be able to even _find_ him now? I had to, I had to if I wanted to set things right between us. But he was gone, vanished into thin air like a ghost, and leaving no sign of his passing. Like a ghost... I smacked myself in the forehead as another unsettling thought hit me. _What if he ran off into the Ghost Zone? What if he's hiding there, scared and alone, in that freaky ghost dimension? He only happens to have easy access to it in his basement!_

But if I wanted to try and look for him there, I first needed access to the Fenton Portal. I didn't like the thought, but breaking into the house wouldn't be all that difficult. The hard part would be trying to find one reclusive ghost-boy in that creepy world. My knowledge of ghosts was still limited, I had no idea where I would have to begin looking, or how I would even navigate in there without getting hopelessly lost. I could clearly remember my first trip into that world, when that big hunter ghost Danny called Skulker dragged the both of us to his domain so he could hunt us like sport animals. I didn't remember how we got back, but I remembered well enough just how vast that place was. Presumably Danny was more familiar with it than I was.

My radar beeped at me while I contemplated my options, and my heart jumped in my chest as I fumbled for the device, thinking maybe it had picked up on Danny. Before I could check it though, I heard the distinctive sound from behind and above of an energy weapon firing, and dovetailed my sled midair to dodge the shot and face my attacker, weapon instinctively in hand.

"The ghost-child is **my** prey, girl." The ghost growled, pointing some weapon mounted on his armor at me. "Though I'll gladly hunt you as well."

I scowled at the big ghost, recognizing the power armor, green flaming mohawk, and steely grin of the self-described 'Ghost Zone's greatest hunter', while leveling my own gun at him. "He's not here, creep."

That caught the hunter up short, as his confident smirk turned to a momentarily confused frown. "Impossible, this is his natural habitat... he has to be here somewhere."

"I've been lookin' for him for three days now. If I haven't been able to find him, he's not here." I snapped, a new idea starting to turn over in my head as I stared down the brute. Maybe if this situation could be defused before we started exchanging blows, I could use the hunter to my own ends. After all, he normally resided in the Ghost Zone, right? Part of me recoiled mentally at the thought of working with a ghost, but I fought that hostile instinct down. Finding Danny took priority, no matter what I had to do to find him. "See for yourself." I gestured with the hand not holding a gun at Danny's window. "Nada."

The ghost looked between me and the window for a moment before he flew past me. I idly wondered why a ghost needed a jetpack to fly while I kept him in my sights. To my annoyance, I watched him phase through the wall and land inside Danny's room, surveying it with an assortment of contraptions that flicked open out of his armor. For an instant, the ghost resembled a giant killer Swiss Army knife. Annoyed, I rapped on the window, standing on my jet sled with one hand on my hip. Apparently he heard me, because one massive arm phased through the wall, caught hold of my shoulder, and hauled me right through the window before I could even yelp with surprise. For the record, being intangible and passing through solid glass and brick is a most decidedly peculiar feeling. Which would probably explain why I stumbled when he dropped me inside the room.

"You could have just opened the window." I muttered as I got back to my feet.

So there we were- one red-clad ghost hunter and one big heavily armed ghost standing in the middle of a deserted bedroom in an abandoned house. An awkward silence fell over the already quiet room- obviously the ghost was considering the implications of Danny's absence. Never mind that we still had our weapons armed and ready.

"Well, this is awkward." The ghost declared finally.

Before he could return to his earlier thought about hunting _me_ , I decided now was as good a time as ever to speak up. "Look, he ran off and I haven't seen him for days now. I think maybe he's hiding in the Ghost Zone."

"Why would he hide there?" The ghost obviously hadn't heard about what had happened to his 'prey'.

"Because I chased him off, ghost." I hissed, still kicking myself for having chased Danny away. "But if you're the ghost world's greatest hunter, I'm sure _you_ could track him down there, right?"

The appeal to his ego seemed to work as he cracked one of those wicked smiles. "And why are you telling me this, whelp?"

I contemplated my next words carefully. "I want a piece of the action." I managed to sound more hostile about Danny than the worry I truly felt. "After all, we're after the same prey. All I ask is when you find him, take him alive and bring him here. I just want to have a few words with him. After that, he's all yours."

I silently prayed that the ghost would fall for my act. If he _did_ capture Danny and bring him back, I did want to have some words with him. Just not the words the ghost was probably thinking of. I wasn't as skilled in treachery as, say, Paulina, but I _had_ fallen from the 'popular' clique. A certain degree of manipulating people was required just to stay in that hierarchy. I just hoped it would be enough to fool this gun-toting ghost.

He contemplated my request for a long moment. "Once I have the ghost-child's pelt decorating my hearth, I _was_ going to hunt another formidable prey." I saw him eyeing me and managed not to cringe at the pelt remark or the fact we both knew full well I _was_ that other prey.

"Well, the ghost-kid-" I managed to put just enough sneer and disdain in my tone. "-probably won't put up much of a fight now. He was badly injured when he got away from me. I doubt he's recovered. This deal won't have any impact on our 'business' after that."

Well, it wasn't a total lie. I just didn't specify that the wounds were psychological and not physical. The idea that I had possibly mortally wounded his intended target seemed to impress the ghost, and he seemed to particularly like the offering that my price for helping him was limited only to that one hunt, and he would be free to hunt me afterward. Given what I'd said about Danny's condition, he was probably thinking I was the more desirable prey anyway.

"You make a strange offer, girl." The ghost raised one eyebrow, studying me. I managed a reasonable glare in response.

"I just want to finish my business with the ghost-kid. Anything after that, I couldn't care less about." I crossed my arms, glaring at the ghost, daring him to question my intentions. "If you want to hunt me after that, fine! We'll see if you're that great a hunter."

I inwardly heaved a sigh of relief when that last stab at the ghost's ego seemed to convince him. "Fine, whelp. I would hunt you now, but I swore first to have the ghost-child's head. You have a deal. When I catch him, I will bring him here and skin him when you're done. After that, I look forward to hunting my next prey." The ghost disappeared through the floor, and I ran downstairs, nearly tripping as I ran to the basement. The ghost was gone by the time I got downstairs, the only light in the Fentons' lab coming from the portal, which was wide open.

"Great, Valerie. You just made a deal with a spook who wants to mount Danny's head like a trophy." I muttered to myself. Well, between my weapons and Danny's powers, when the ghost brought him in, we could probably overpower the ghost and force that walking arsenal back through the portal.

I sighed and let myself out the back door of the house, heading back home. There was little point in my continued searching now. Danny was either in the Ghost Zone, or had left town. Either way, I would only waste my time searching Amity Park. I had to just keep my eyes open and hope that ghost could find him where I couldn't.

The days took on a tiring routine after that. I returned to school and to work, but was too distracted to be very effective. And I was losing a lot more sleep. See, the Fenton Portal was still active. Ghosts were coming through it regularly. I never realized just how often this was happening until Danny was gone- obviously through his efforts, very few of the ghost attacks were much noticed. Without Danny Phantom there to stop the ghosts, the task fell to me completely. For about two weeks, it was the "masked hunter" and not "the ghost-boy" all over the news. I could only marvel and wonder at how Danny had managed to keep a secret identity, fight ghosts, and try to have a social life while keeping his grades out of the toilet.

I was over at FentonWorks daily, having discreetly pried open a window in that command center atop the building, waiting in the lab for that ghost to return. Usually, this time was spent doing homework or looking through the various gadgets in the lab. Most of the equipment I received from Mr. Masters were weapons or tracking devices. Guns, blades, ghost detectors, and so on. The Fentons had built plenty of those, but they also had built gadgets I couldn't begin to identify. What was that chrome and green device for that resembled some sort of eggbeater? And why was there a medieval torture device down there? What about the incomplete gizmo that looked like some sort of gun with a toggle switch and the options "Cram" and "Uncram" on it?

My worry didn't decrease as the daily grind of school, work, ghost-hunting, and waiting in the lab became routine. If anything, my concern only grew. I knew I looked like a nervous wreck. Between my worries and the ghosts, I wasn't sleeping much. Thankfully, my dad didn't decide to try and curtail my ghost hunting. Amity Park was becoming sharply aware that the ghost-boy who was alternatively reviled as a villain and hailed as a hero was no longer present, and somebody had to stop the ghosts coming through the portal. If anything, my dad began to take a real interest in my hobby, asking me about my equipment and how it worked, how to locate a ghost and the best ways to stop it. I didn't realize at the time, but that interest would ultimately save my life.

I was on my way over to FentonWorks after school that day. The day that would mark the beginning of the nightmare, and forever change my life.

I saw him standing in the street before the building, and stopped dead in my tracks. His appearance was different- he looked a lot paler, his outfit was different. But he was familiar enough, and I recognized the distinctive emblem on his chest. He looked over when I started running, blissfully unaware then of what was coming, knowing only joy and indescribable relief in that instant, that my friend had returned home, returned to me, and I would be able to put things right between us.

"DANNY!"


	4. Those Red Eyes

**Those Red Eyes**  
"On a prayer, in a song  
I hear your voice and it keeps me hanging on  
Raining down, against the wind  
I'm reaching out 'til we reach the circle's end  
When you come back to me again"  
_-"When You Come Back to Me Again" - Garth Brooks_

I closed the distance rapidly enough, all but throwing myself at Danny. He caught me stiffly as I threw my arms around him in a giant hug. "You came back! Danny, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have reacted like that, I'm so sorry, can you ever forgive me?" I knew I was babbling in my rush of relief. "I was so worried, I've been trying to find you for weeks! I was so worried something awful had happened because of me! I'm so sorry-!"

After a moment, I felt his cool arms around me as well as I bawled out my relief and apologies into his chest, only distantly wondering why he was in ghost form, and why he'd changed his appearance. I didn't get much of a chance to look him over in detail in between my initial cry and glomping him, nor did I particularly care how he looked at that moment. I was just so relieved he had come back, weak-kneed with joy. Hardly able to support my own weight, I leaned heavily into him, not minding how cool his body was to the touch. It made sense, but I had never been in such close contact with a ghost, half or otherwise before that moment, so I never truly realized just how cold their touch could be. I clung to him like a drowning person might cling desperately to a stray bit of flotsam.

Had I known then what I know now, I would have shot him with every gun I had and anything useful I could have taken from the Fentons' lab right then. But hindsight is 20/20, and it probably wouldn't have worked anyway.

"Valerie-?" He sounded distracted, his voice a touch deeper and more raspy than I remembered. I felt his embrace tighten, becoming slightly uncomfortable. We must have made quite a scene had there been anyone watching- a teenage girl who looked like a nervous wreck crying her eyes out and whimpering a tangled mess of apologies and relief into the black and white-clad chest of a ghost.

"Yeah, Danny. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean those things I said... I was just so shocked, I was stupid. I really-" I paused then, interrupted by Danny easing his hold on me, pushing me back to arm's distance and studying my face. I took the time to do likewise, a tiny twinge of worry trickling into the back of my mind, obscured still by my relief. His appearance really _had_ changed. His skin had taken the slight blue tinge often associated with ghosts, his ears now tapered to delicate looking points. His hair no longer flopped in a careless mop in front of his face, it now flared upward and back. He smiled at me, and I noted he now sported a small pair of fangs. But then I saw his eyes.

Red. Not blue, not glowing green. Brilliant red, a shade that sent shivers down my spine and brought my tears of relief to a halt. This was not the face of someone happy to be reunited with a friend who had seen the error of her ways. There was something profoundly unsettling in the way he was smiling at me, but I told myself it was just my conditioned reflex making me paranoid. After all, until very recently, I _had_ been trying in all seriousness to destroy him. A random thought crossed my mind that something about him distantly reminded me of that white-clad ghost that I'd seen briefly during that fiasco with the ghost invasion awhile back, but I tossed the thought aside as an irrelevant observation.

"Danny, are you-?" My question was very abruptly cut off by his hand gripping my left shoulder painfully tight, while his right pulled back into a fist that he slammed into my midsection and sent me reeling. I wasn't sure at that moment, but that was probably when a few of my ribs were broken. I just knew it hurt a great deal, but the physical pain was merely an afterthought to the emotional confusion. "D-danny? What are you doing?!"

"What I should have done months ago." He replied coldly, looming over me with a wicked smirk as I staggered back to my feet, one arm clutching at my bruised ribs.

"I-I know you're probably mad at me, but Danny, after you disappeared, I was so worried-" I gasped out, stunned and hurt by his reaction. No sooner did I get upright again than his foot shot out in a deceptively graceful kick that I haphazardly dodged, so it only caught me painfully in the shoulder and sent me sprawling again.

"You had your chance, Valerie." Danny sneered, his voice positively devoid of anything but a sort of demented pleasure at my agony. "We all did."

"What are you talking about?!" I struggled upright a third time. "Danny, I didn't know.... if I'd known, I'd never have done what I did before. I know you're upset-"

I was cut off for a third time by one glowing green fist catching me hard in the face, knocking me down and almost instantly raising a large ugly bruise. I didn't cry out as I went down, staring at Danny with wide, hurt eyes. "Danny... why are you doing this? I'm your friend!"

Danny turned those disturbed red eyes on me, wicked smile turned briefly to a displeased frown. "I don't _have_ any friends. Not anymore."

I cringed. For just a moment, I thought I almost heard the voice of the upset boy and not this almost alien monster. Instinct was telling me to fight, to whip out my weapons and attack this ghost. After all, ever since my dad lost his job and we hit rock bottom, I'd been trying to put Danny full of holes, not knowing that the ghost-kid was the shy boy I had started to develop feelings for. I watched with mouth gaping as he pointed one glowing hand, palm up, at a car passing through an intersection some hundred feet away. I didn't have time to shout out before a brilliant green ectoplasmic blast tore through the air, engulfing the car and its occupants in a violent explosion. I didn't need to examine the ruins to know that nothing survived that blast. The beam continued onward, hardly impeded by the car, or the few others beyond it that were likewise demolished, finally slamming to a halt against a building several blocks down, the explosion rolling through the air like a thunderclap.

"Danny, stop it!" I found my voice, pitched higher from my hurt and confusion. "You don't need to do this!"

Danny stopped and turned to face me again, partly framed by the eerie green flames from the wreckage. I'll never forget the terrifying look on his face, the way those crimson orbs fairly glowed with a malignant light, that deranged smile as he raised one glowing hand and pointed it in my direction. "I don't _need_ to do this. I **want** to do this. Goodbye, Valerie."

I sat there, staring stupidly as the green energy swirled around his palm, knowing full well that if I didn't do something, he was going to kill me. But I couldn't force myself to respond, I was paralyzed from the shock. This wasn't Danny, it couldn't be! But it was, I knew it deep down, and I couldn't bring myself to lift a hand against him. Not after what I did to him when he needed me. Instead, I stared my death in the face, waiting numb in confusion for the reaper to end its wandering and claim me.

I was saved by a pink energy blast sailing over my head and striking Danny square in the face, the force of the shot sending him flying backwards several dozen feet, both hands clutching angrily at his face, scorched red eyes peering through his fingers for the source of the blast. He first looked down at me, but my own startled gaze met his, my hands quite clearly empty of anything capable of delivering the blow. I watched his gaze slide upward, locking onto something a short distance behind me.

"Get away from my daughter!" If I wasn't still held rapt from shock, I would have gasped and spun around at the sound of my dad's voice. I heard a weapon click behind me, and I noted in the back of my mind it sounded like my ecto-grenade launcher.

"How quaint." Danny hissed, and I swear for an instant I saw a forked tongue snapping the air as he straightened to face my father. "Family to the rescue, is it?" I swear he spat that phrase out as if it tasted horribly bitter.

"I don't know who you are, ghost, but you're not touching Valerie if I can help it!" My dad stepped in front of me, and he was carrying two of my guns, fully determined to fight off the nightmare creature Danny had somehow become, clearly underestimating the danger.

Danny smiled again, that sickening, cruel smile, obviously not terribly fazed by my dad's threat. Heck, even enjoying it. He stood straight, twitching two fingers at my father. "You first then, old man."

With a wordless battle cry, my dad unloaded several rounds at Danny, but the ghost easily evaded them with a nearly serpentine grace. In a moment, he was right in my father's face, sneering. "My turn." Before my dad could react, he was sent flying by hard right hook to the jaw that spun him and sent him reeling. And all I could do was stare in horror. To my surprise, he got back up, glaring bloody murder at Danny.

"Valerie, snap out of it!" He called to me, narrowly dodging one of Danny's fists. While Danny snarled and tried to recover from his miss, my dad whipped that gun around, the grenade launcher's muzzle barely inches from the back of Danny's head. I'm not sure if I cried out then, when I saw the trigger pulled.

Both Danny and my dad were sent flying in opposite directions from the explosion, my dad skidding to a halt on the concrete, Danny phasing through a wall rather than actually hitting it. My dad got up quickly, ignoring the myriad cuts and bruises from being so near the center of the blast and from the road rash. My radar was beeping frantically at me, but I couldn't register the sound through my shock and fear. My dad scoured the area, waiting to see if Danny was gone or not.

"Hmph, shooting someone in the back. Hardly sporting." Danny's voice said from thin air. My dad spun to face the voice, eyes flying wide open in surprise as a bright green energy blast caught him full in the face at point-blank range. It wasn't on the same scale as the blast that had destroyed that car before, but my dad screamed in pain, staggering backward, one hand clutching frantically at his face as Danny reappeared, hand still glowing from the blast. "Oh, but I guess _I'm_ not very sporting either, am I?"

I stared, horrified, as my dad panted heavily, trying to recover from that awful blow. Danny floated there, feet just an inch off the ground, smirking wickedly, obviously enjoying himself. Apparently to the ghost's surprise, my dad straightened, still breathing heavily, but determined to face the ghost anyway. I gasped when he turned slightly and I saw the damage from Danny's attack. The right side of my dad's face was a charred mess. I felt my stomach protest the sight, especially the bloody ruin of his eye. "Is that all?" My dad growled through tightly clenched teeth, firing another round at Danny.

Danny easily avoid the grenade, having had more time to react. "Look, this is really fun." He chuckled then, a low, evil sound. "But do you really think you can stand up to me?"

"Valerie, run!" My dad commanded me, his voice strained, obviously he was in a great deal of pain. "Get out of here!"

Entranced, I staggered to my feet, but my legs wouldn't hold my weight, and I fell back down with a pained cry. Danny outright laughed, and I swear my blood froze at the sound. How could he have changed so much in such a short time? Gone was the boy I had feelings for, this was Danny in name only. His behavior, his intent... everything about him was straight from the nightmare I had crafted in my mind months ago about the ghost-boy. Uncaring, a threat to society, little more than a ruthless monster.

And still, I couldn't bring myself to raise my weapon against him.

With a shout, my dad launched himself at the ghost, a barrage of shots preceeding him. Danny simply raised a shield of green energy, looking incredibly smug, floating with his arms crossed as the blasts pinged harmlessly off the barrier. My dad's momentum carried him smack into that green shield, which Danny quickly dissolved, one hand catching my dad around the throat as the shorter ghost floated high enough off the ground to be eye-to-eye with him. The grenade launcher was dropped and forgotten as I watched my dad clawing at the gloved hand that apparently held him with an iron grasp, depriving him of air.

"I think I'm done playing now." Danny smiled then, fangs gleaming. The hand at my dad's throat steadily tightened, my father flailing wildly.

I finally snapped out of my stupor at the blatant threat to my dad's life. I silently launched to my feet, activated my jet sled, and slammed it and myself bodily into Danny at maximum flight speed before he could strangle my dad further. I caught him by surprise, my only advantage. He dropped my dad and glared daggers at me, firing a volley of green blasts. I swerved through the storm as best I could, feeling the heat of several narrowly missing, one scorching my back and sending me tumbling, shouting when I hit the ground, my ribs making their condition known. I heard my dad taking in pained gulps of air just a few feet from me as I worked myself back upright.

Just in time to come face-to-face with my nightmare, red eyes just inches from mine. Danny smiled, showing his fangs again. "So you still have some fight left, Valerie?"

"D-danny-!" I yelped, backing away unsteadily.

"This is amusing." Danny grinned at me, stalking forward as I backed away. "You really think I still _care_ for you? That I still have _feelings_ for you?"

I felt tears stinging at the corner of my eyes. "Danny, stop this, please!"

"Why should I?" He demanded. "Why should I care about _anything_? About you, this town, about anything? I'm **through** with caring."

I shrank back in fear. I wanted desperately to fight back, to pull out a weapon and shoot him and stop this madness. But still, even then, I couldn't. I cringed as he roughly grabbed the front of my shirt, biting my lip hard to refrain from loosing the yowl of pain as my midsection was roughly pulled forward by the fabric. "Danny, stop-!"

"I'll stop when I'm ready to stop." Danny hissed at me. I cringed again, seeing the tips of that forked tongue. "I hate this place. I hate the Nasty Burger. I hate Casper High. I hate Vlad Masters, that stupid man. I hate FentonWorks. I hate this city. And I **hate** _you_. When I stop, I won't have to look at _any_ of it anymore. It will all be _gone_ , and I'll never see any of it again."

I stared in horror at him then, watched him raise his free hand. The green energy swirled into being again. "No, don't-!"

"And goodbye." His voice was devoid of that deranged glee from just a moment ago, as if the statement were merely a formality.

" _ **VALERIE!**_ "

The next instant was a blur. Something slammed into me and Danny, and I staggered, momentarily blinded by a green flash of energy and momentarily deafened by the most piercing, agonizing scream I had ever heard. That sound still haunts me to this day, sending chills up my spine, making the hair on my neck stand on end and my blood run like ice. It was my father, having knocked me out of the line of fire as the ecto-blast ripped into him.

"Dad-!" I yelped, activating my jet sled and diving back into the middle of things, grabbing my thrashing dad and painfully hauling him onto the sled behind me. He was still screaming in agony, wordless shouts mingled with coarse words in a discordant tirade, his remaining hand clamped tightly over the shredded, bloody stump that remained of his left arm. I kept one eye on Danny, who now looked not so much angry as amused, a predatory grin on his face as he simply stood there, arms crossed. I still don't know why he didn't finish us then and there- it was certainly within his power to do so, and I was in no position to offer any resistance. My only thought was escape, fleeing that demon and getting my dad safely away to somewhere that his wounds could be treated. Perhaps despite his words, some small sliver of kindness remained, making Danny stay his hand and let me fly away.

Perhaps kindness had nothing to do with it, and he was enjoying my suffering, a mouse in the cat's paws.

It was a long flight, both physically and emotionally. As I came down ever slowly from my adrenaline surge, my injuries made themselves painfully known. I was drained mentally. My world was turned upside down in an instant. My friend had become in truth the very monster I had assumed he was in my ignorance, apparently now bent on destroying everything, either out of grief or madness. My father was very near mortally wounded, and I was pretty certain I had some serious internal injuries as well.

I heard the first stirrings of panic, saw the smoke from the first distant explosions as I brought my sled down at a hospital well-distant from where Danny had apparently commenced his rampage. It didn't take the emergency room staff more than two seconds to realize we needed help badly. My dad was taken away to surgery for his wounds, and I felt myself lose my frail grip on consciousness as well. Between my bodily injuries and the heights of joy, surprise, and sheer terror I had just gone through, I had no strength left. My last thought as I slipped into the painless freedom of unconsciousness was one that still troubles me even now.

_Is this my fault?_


	5. Rampage and Indecision

**Rampage and Indecision**  
"What hurts the most  
Was being so close  
And having so much to say  
And watching you walk away  
And never knowing  
What could have been"  
_-"What Hurts the Most" -Rascal Flatts_

I'm not sure how long I was out after that. I awoke to the beeping of medical equipment and the plain white walls of a hospital room. There was a square of sunlight on the wall, let in from a nearby window. I stared blankly at that patch of light, uncomprehending how I had gotten there. Such is the case with extreme shock, I suppose. My reunion with Danny hadn't trickled back to conscious thought just yet. For that first waking moment, I was warm, safe, and untroubled. Like all things however, it couldn't possibly last. My recollection of before I blacked out slammed home all in an instant as I sat up suddenly, biting back a whimper as my bandaged midsection ached from the motion. The light on the wall wasn't bright. It was muted, like sunlight through clouds, or through smoke, and tinged just barely green.

"Dad!"

"He's sleeping in the next room." A nurse said from the doorway. "He was in bad shape, but he should be alright given time."

I fell back against the pillows with relief. "So he'll be okay?"

The woman nodded. "Aside from being blind in one eye and the loss of his arm, he'll be fine."

I stared at the woman, trying to make sense of everything. She looked tired, as if she'd been stressed out. "What about me? And where's my stuff?"

The woman gestured to a corner, and I saw my jet sled and equipment stacked carefully. "You should be fine with some bed rest and taking it easy. Three broken ribs, several bruises, a rather nasty 2nd degree burn on your back. I'm sorry about that suit of yours... it was in shambles when we treated you, we had to cut it off to get it off the burn."

I cringed, I couldn't recall if I had activated my suit or not when I rescued my dad. I guess it was reflex. At least I still had my sled and several of my weapons... for what? I couldn't go back to ghost hunting after that, could I? I felt the building rumble slightly, almost like an earthquake, and yelped.

"Don't worry... the fighting is still several miles from here." The nurse reassured me, though I saw her eyes dart to the window warily.

"Fighting?" I squeaked as the distant thunderclap reached the hospital.

The nurse nodded grimly and turned on the TV. I stared at the screen, at the newscast in progress. I felt my stomach clench painfully up at the scene being depicted, and I was immensely grateful I hadn't eaten anything in hours. There he was, before the cameras, without a care in the world. I recognized the demolished location, it was the Nasty Burger. You couldn't tell that they'd been working at a breakneck pace to repair the building now. There wasn't much building left, lit by green fire. Smoke billowed from a number of demolished cars, and I was taken aback by the realization that many were police cars, and one helicopter, all in flaming ruin.

"This is Lance Thunder, who really wishes he'd taken that acting job in Los Angeles, reporting live from Amity Park as the city bunkers down for Ghost Watch, day 2." The field reporter addressed the camera, his eyes darting everywhere, obviously very near to panic. "Yesterday afternoon, an unknown ghost began a rampage in the heart of the city, first demolishing the fast-food establishment you see behind me. Police attempted to stop the ghost, but as you can see, all attempts so far have failed. The mayor has urged all citizens to remain calm and indoors.... oh the heck with it. Get out while you still can!"

I cringed at the reporter's tone, and then gasped when I saw Danny hovering a short distance behind the man, one glowing green palm pointed right at the camera, a demented grin on his face. "Run, you idiots!" I yelped uselessly. The reporter spun around at some exclamation from the cameraman, but in an instant the screen was filled with a bright green light that then cut to static, but not before the camera recorded the first seconds of the camera man's cry of terror and the reporter's shriek.

"Well... " The screen cut back to the news desk, the news anchors both with pale, strained expressions. "... there's not much else to be said. We will continue to cover this story as best we can..."

"He's been rampaging since... yesterday?" I managed to squeak out around my queasiness. "Oh god... how bad is it?"

The nurse turned the television off and shrugged. "I shouldn't stay here long- we're full to capacity since it started. The reports have said that the ghost has done a lot of damage in the city center... it may be days before rescue parties can get into that area to look for survivors. It's amazing that Phantom hasn't shown up... I thought that spirit was usually the first one on the scene of a ghost attack."

She ducked out of the room, leaving me to stare open-mouthed at the now-blank TV screen. In the non-silence, I could hear it. The cacophony of the rest of the hospital, the sound muffled by the thick walls as victims were brought in. Above and beyond that, the regular rumbles of distant explosions. Danny was out there, at that very moment, destroying things, hurting people... I swallowed hard as I considered what else he had done. That I'd seen him do. The people in that one car. I didn't want to think of it, but I couldn't ignore it. _Killing_ people, and apparently _enjoying_ it. The thought made my innards protest. And if the nurse was any indication, people didn't realize the fire-headed ghost terrorizing them WAS the same ghost-kid they had obviously come to view as a hero. I wasn't sure if I was glad for that or horrified at the thought.

Gritting my teeth, I got to my feet and padded to the window, squinting against the daylight. As the light quit dazzling my eyes, I gasped at the sight. In the distance a thick pillar of green-tinged smoke rose darkly into the sky, fanning out to obscure the sun. Most of the city still looked to be intact from my vantage, but I could see the fresh columns of smoke and flame blazing into existence. If no one could stop him, it seemed entirely possible that Danny would carry out his wicked threat that he'd hissed at me the day before. That he would destroy everything he hated, so he wouldn't have to see it again.

The police had already tried and failed to stop Danny. No help would be coming from the town's most famous ghost given that whether they realized it or not, the ghost attacking them WAS said famous ghost. The Fentons were gone, and would never hunt another ghost again. I felt ill as the weight of my realization settled on my shoulders. Somehow, I had to bring myself to raise a gun against my friend and destroy him.

But I couldn't. It was that behavior that had driven Danny away, driven him somehow to his present state. Knowing that, how could I bear to try and hurt him again? What if I killed him? I was already torn up blaming myself for his running away and returning as this nightmare being, there was no way I could possibly live with myself if I killed him. He was more than just a friend, he... I loved him. There, I said it. It may have only been puppy love, a young woman's first crush, but I did. I may not have had the same level of emotion for him that Sam did- after all, she had obviously accepted the whole of his existence from the start, whereas I had reacted poorly to learning the truth of him- but I still cared deeply for him, and was shocked and dismayed at his transformation. Perhaps if I'd known the truth of his change then, my decision would not have been so difficult. It's hard to say. That monster both was and was not Danny, and in any case, I was in no position to try and fight him with my injuries.

With some difficulty, I forced myself to look away from the window. I was safe for the time being, but I knew that time was growing ever shorter- distance would spare me for only so long. I think I knew in the back of my mind that I truly had no choice in the matter, but I wasn't consciously capable of accepting it yet. Every fiber of my being rebelled now against the very notion of trying to fight Danny, but at the same time I could only deny the reality for so long. He had tried in all seriousness to kill not only me, but also my father, who was now laying in a hospital bed crippled. I had watched him _murder_ a car full of innocent people, perhaps a family like his was, now wiped out, left in ashen ruin. I saw him kill again not ten minutes ago, when that newscast was cut short. I had no doubt in my mind that the reporter did not survive long past the camera going dead. I didn't want to think about it, but I knew that even as I sat there useless in my mental anguish, he was out there hurting people, destroying people's homes, their way of life, he was killing people. I was in a hospital full to capacity of his _victims_ , people who had likely never even met him, people who would otherwise have been happy to leave him alone.

I was interrupted by a harried intern poking his head into my room and telling me that my father was awake, and that I could see him if I wanted. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity for a distraction from my dark thoughts, and with the young man's help, I was led to my dad's room. I felt fresh tears stinging my eyes when I saw him. He looked pale, ashen beneath his dark complexion, half his face swathed carefully in linen bandages, his remaining good eye unfocused, with an almost glassy sheen as he looked over when I entered the room. From what I could see of his torso, he was covered in bandages, some of them bearing red staining, proof of his injuries.

"Ohmigosh, Dad!" I ran over to the bedside. "I was so worried-!"

"I'm glad you're safe, Valerie." He whispered, his voice slurring badly- he was very heavily medicated to kill the pain. If only my own pain could have been so easily subdued.

"You saved me from D-" I choked and caught myself, not wanting to reveal to my dad that it was Danny responsible for this awful situation. "-that ghost."

"I thought you hated ghosts, sweetie." My father barely quirked his visible eyebrow at me. "You're going to hunt that one down, right?"

I tried to choke back a sob at the reminder that Danny needed to be stopped. "I... I don't think I can... he was so powerful, and the nurse said I have broken ribs..."

Despite the drug haze, my dad gave me a piercing look. "You don't think you can, or you don't think you will?"

I visibly cringed as he managed to hit my dilemma dead on. "Dad, I-I can't..."

"Why not, sweetie? You saw what that ghost did." My dad pressed on, paternal instinct alive and well despite his physical condition.

I found a chair and sat in an uncomfortable silence. My dad waited patiently, his one-eyed gaze gentle. I guess it was pretty obvious that the worse of my injuries weren't the physical ones that could just be drugged away and would heal given time. But I didn't want to confess the truth of it, that the ghost, the monster that did all this, was in fact the very same sweet boy that my dad had remarked rather favorably on in the past. Casual remarks in the past like, "That Fenton boy seems to be a sweet kid."or "You really like Danny, don't you?" rose up to smack me in the face. How could I tell my dad that, by the way, that really sweet kid put your eye out and ripped your arm off. Oh, and not to mention that sweet kid tried to brutally kill your daughter because, just for the record, he's got freaky ghost-type powers. And that sweet kid is currently on a brutal rampage in the city.

My dad was the first one to break the silence, waiting for the rumble of a distant blast to fade before speaking quietly. "Valerie... you called him Danny. I heard you say that during the fight."

I choked back another sob- it escaped as a whimper. I couldn't stop the tears though, borne of grief, stress, and to some degree shame. Then as now, I blame myself at least in part for the nightmare, and that guilt will be a burden I bear to the end of my days. My father awkwardly laid his good arm across my shoulders, lightly drawing me close and waiting with the sort of patience only a loving parent can manage for the storm of tears to pass. It took several minutes, and my aching ribs protested the abuse greatly before I was able to breathe normally instead of gulping for air between sobs.

"Valerie, please." My dad asked gently, rubbing my shoulder. "That ghost... was that Danny? Your classmate?"

I couldn't bear the burden of Danny's secret alone, I decided. I wouldn't be able to function under that weight without support, and if I couldn't trust my own father, then I couldn't trust anyone. I nodded with a sniffle, finding my voice again with some effort. "Uh-huh... he... I dunno how exactly... he was the ghost-kid all along, something about the portal..." I tried to take a deep breath and maintain some composure, an effort largely wasted. "When he told me... Daddy, I freaked out and chased him away, and now he's back and angry and-" I hadn't called my father 'Daddy' in ages, I guess it just proved how distraught I was as I choked down another sob at my admission.

"Valerie... oh, I'm so sorry." My dad hugged me close again. "No wonder you're so upset. It was your friend... that's terrible."

I'm sure he had dozens of questions he wanted to ask, but he wisely chose to simply comfort his distressed daughter. I imagine he was also trying to digest the stark truth- he had tried to curtail my ghost hunting out of fear for my own safety, but now I was the only person in the city that had a prayer of saving everyone. It couldn't have been easy, having to encourage your own precious child to risk her life for the sake of saving everyone.

"What am I gonna do, Dad?" I whimpered, wiping my eyes. "I can't fight him... what if I hurt him? Or _kill_ him?"

"That's a choice you need to make, Valerie." My dad sounded awfully tired, his medication was probably starting to make him drowsy. "Won't you feel worse if he destroys everything you fought to protect? That _he_ fought to protect?"

I didn't want to admit it, but that exactly why I was on the horns of such a dilemma. If I tried to stop Danny, it meant fighting my friend, probably to the end of either me or him. If I didn't try to stop Danny, it meant living with the guilt of knowing that every bit of damage, every shattered home, every death was also on my head. In either case, it would probably end with my own death, it was simply a matter of how I faced that ending, hiding away like a coward and prolonging the inevitable or fighting to the possibly bitter end to protect other people, and perhaps just maybe come out of it alive and well.

"I... need to think about it, Dad." I mumbled as he laid back against his pillows, eye drooping as exhaustion and the medicine won out over his wakefulness.

"Don't... think too long, Valerie." He murmured sleepily. "A lot of people need you."

I quietly fled the room once I was certain he was soundly asleep. Guilt heaped onto my already indecisive state and I spent the better part of the day arguing myself in circles, pacing between my equipment and that window. I kept telling myself that maybe I could talk sense into Danny, and things could go back to the way they were before. Then I would look out the window at that ever-expanding column of smoke, or hear from the harried staff about the most recent victims. I watched a news helicopter flying toward the city center, saw the footage it was recording on the television. Near twilight, I saw even from my vantage the brilliant green beam of energy shoot up into the sky from somewhere down among the buildings, lancing the copter and sending it plummeting out of sight in a massive fireball. The television broadcast again showed static, revealing about as many answers as my own troubled thoughts.

I thought I would never sleep again as I watched night fall on Amity Park, the sky lit a most eerie shade of green as the light of the fires below was distorted by the ever-thicker clouds of smoke, casting a sickening green square of light on the wall. I sat in a chair, staring blankly out the window, watching the steady progression of Danny's rampage well into the night. I had to have been asleep, either dreaming or hallucinating when I heard the voice.

_valerie_

Whether I was dreaming of the hospital room or actually wakefully there, I don't recall. I was in a daze, and sat up sharply at the whisper. "What was that-? Who's there?"

_You've got to stop him._

The non-voice had a desperate, pleading edge to it, and I found my groggy gaze drawn toward that green patch of light let in from the window. I saw nothing if I stared directly at the patch, but I swear there was something- no, some _one_ standing there if I looked out the corner of my eye. "Who's there?" I demanded, though my voice wavered, caught somewhere between fear and wonder.

_Please, Valerie. You've got to stop him, before it's too late! He wouldn't want this!_

I thought the non-voice sounded familiar as the vague form slowly, ever slowly began to resolve itself. I felt my heart stop for a moment as the dark figure came increasingly into focus, yet so faint as to be easily mistaken for a trick played by over-tired eyes and the light. Whether I was awake or asleep, I stand firmly by the belief that it was real and not merely a hallucination conjured by my tormented psyche.

Violet eyes not-quite glowing stared at me from a face bearing an expression more upset than my own, an expression of grief running far deeper than I have words to describe it with. Impossible as it was, Sam Manson was in that hospital room. "S-sam?" I managed to gasp out in disbelief. The apparition's mouth never moved, but I heard her as clearly as if she'd been standing right next to me and talking.

 _Valerie, listen to me, there's not much time!_ Sam flinched, clearly pained by what she was about to tell me. _You've got to stop Danny. He wouldn't want this. Please!_

"You want me to try and kill him?!" I demanded, irrationally angry at yet another person... ghost... whatever! urging me to do this awful thing. "You honestly think he _wants_ to die?!"

Sam cringed at my tone, I thought I saw the light glint faintly on tears slowly making their way down her pale face. _It's too late to save him._

I clenched my fists, finding myself increasingly angry at this apparent lack of faith from a girl I thought had been Danny's most steadfast friend. "So you're just giving up on him? I thought you _loved_ him! How can you honestly tell me I should go and try to kill him?! Don't you think I care for him, too?!"

The apparition flinched again, almost as if slapped before fixing me with that violet stare, matching my outburst with one of her own. _You can't kill someone who's already_ **gone** _._ Her non-voice caught on a sob. _Because I loved him, but he's gone forever, and he's never coming back. That **monster** isn't Danny! He would never do this, NEVER. If you care at all for him, or for everything he fought so hard for, despite the whole town and _ you _hating his guts, you'll do this for him._

I stopped, my anger draining away as the specter shook from barely contained sobs, obviously horribly pained at what she was trying to convince me to do. To kill Danny, the boy we had both apparently loved. "He's... gone? But I just saw him!"

 _That's not Danny, Valerie. Not anymore._ Sam recovered her composure more rapidly than I would have thought possible. _He would hate to see that monster... all that's left of him. If you don't stop him, he'll destroy everything! Please, Valerie, please..._

Either I woke up from dreaming then or the specter faded away, but I felt horribly alert, staring again out the window, the sky barely tinted with the first signs of the coming dawn, the green flashes making a steady progression through a city gripped by panic. My shirt was damp, I felt the freshest round of tears making their way downward following the salty tracks of the ones that had come before. It killed me to admit it, but my dad and the specter, ghost, or dream delusion were right. That wasn't Danny, that sweet boy would never have considered, let alone committed such atrocities. Whatever that ghost may have been in the past, it was no longer the ghost-kid, it wasn't Danny Fenton.

I slowly got to my feet, hating my decision but knowing it was the right one. Someone had to stop Danny, and lay his legacy to rest. It was past time. I didn't want to do it, but it had to be done. Danny had to be laid to rest alongside his family and dearest two friends, never to be separated from them again.

My suit was gone, but I still had my jet sled and my weapons. If Danny could convince the students of Casper High to fight a ship full of pirate ghosts, then maybe I could convince them to help me fight off this monster. I would have to- I couldn't hope to fight well in my condition, and the city didn't have the time to wait for my ribs to mend. God, it hurt to make that choice, as I grabbed my sled and my guns.

If Danny was now the very monster I had always envisioned the ghost-kid to be, then I had to force myself to hate him again, to hate him as I had in the past. If he no longer cared about anything, then there was no room for me to care about him. He was truly past redemption... I never would find out just how many people he killed while I wasted precious time agonizing over his fate. The best estimates anyone could make ranged from several hundred to a few thousand. Regardless, I wept silently as I gathered my things, the last tears I swore I would shed for Danny. It was a vow I would ultimately break, but it was true enough at the time.

When I left the hospital, it was with dry eyes and a grim expression.

 _I'll stop him. I_ have _to._


	6. No Redemption

**No Redemption**  
"Well they'll call you a hero or a traitor  
But you'll find out that, sooner or later,  
Nobody in this world is gonna do it for you  
Do what you gotta do"  
_-"Do What You Gotta Do" - Garth Brooks_

I kept my sled low, down between buildings, making use of any cover I could. If I was going to gather a small army, I had no room to be stupid about it. My first stop was the TV station. If I tried to rally the masses, I had to do it in a way that Danny wouldn't notice. And he was too busy with his rampage to be watching TV. I found myself growing more angry as I neared my destination, ignoring the startled looks of the few pedestrians I flew past. It didn't matter now that everyone would know I was the masked hunter- secret identities took a backseat now to stopping the disaster in progress.

I compacted my sled when I got there, and ran right on inside, ignoring my sore ribs. The receptionist tried to stop me at first.

"Where's the news desk?" I demanded of the woman, who was wearing the same tense expression I'd seen a dozen times already. "I need to make an announcement on TV!"

"Miss, I can't-" She tried to protest.

"Look, lady, see this?" I held up one of my guns, rapidly loosing my already short patience with the woman. "I'm a ghost hunter, and if I can't get my message out, then this town and _everyone_ in it is toast!"

Such a seemingly minor confession, isn't it? Sure, my dad knew I hunted ghosts, Mr. Masters knew since he provided me my equipment, but I had never actually confessed to anyone before that moment that yes, I hunt ghosts. The woman offered me no more resistance, pointing weakly in the direction I needed to go. I would later learn that her son and his family had been among the victims of Danny's first rampage. At the time, merely content she'd cooperated, I ran in the direction indicated and burst through the sound stage doors, hastily composing my speech as I ran.

The crew were all too surprised by a teenage girl with a great big chrome hand-cannon bursting in to offer any resistance- the news desk people just stared at me as I ran in front of the cameras, panting from the exertion. I took one more deep breath before I stared right into the lens. "Okay, people! We all know there's a ghost running loose, and the police can't stop him." I mentally braced myself, my next sentence took a lot of effort to get out, knowing that there was no going back once it was uttered. "I'm Valerie Grey, and I'm a ghost hunter. But I can't stop the ghost by myself."

By now, my barging in had drawn the attention of most everyone in the building, and most likely the attention of everyone in Amity Park who was watching the newscast. I heard the surprised murmuring from some of the crew as I hefted my gun. "I need your help. If you can fight, meet me at the FentonWorks building. Please. I can't save the town alone. It will be dangerous, but if we don't stop him, he'll destroy _everything_. He told me so himself when he gave me this!" I gestured angrily at the ugly bruise on my face.

I gave the camera one more long level stare. "Avoid the destroyed areas if you can... stay under any cover you find... good luck. If we work together, we can stop him. We _have_ to." I forced myself not to show any sign of the emotional turmoil I was feeling. If I could act like I hated Danny... well, maybe eventually the act would become real.

Without another word, I ran back out, leaving the newsroom flabbergasted. I think I caught one or two surprised thumbs-up from people in the hallway, but my priority was getting to FentonWorks and breaking in through the command center so I could get the front door open. I had to trust that people wanted to defend their town as much as I did, and that some of them would be able to make the journey and be able to fight in the face of that monster's terrible power.

I was surprised at the first several people to trickle into the Fentons' abandoned living room. Star, Paulina (which actually really surprised me), Dash, Kwan, and several other Casper High students. All segments of the student population were represented- the jocks, the cheerleaders, the nerds, even the band geeks and faculty. More people joined the small crowd over the next hour, some looking battered and bringing horrible tales of close-encounters with Danny. Some had set out in small groups, but had lost members en route thanks to Danny.

"Okay people!" I called out, addressing the gathering. Several dozen sets of eyes turned to me. I was surprised and humbled by their expressions, ranging from fear to hope to a grim determination to match my own. "I don't think we can destroy that ghost."

"If we can't destroy it, why are we even here?" Kwan squeaked.

"I came because I thought the ghost-boy would be here!" Paulina glowered at me. "Wait... if you're that hunter that's always fighting him..."

I watched it dawn on the Latina while hiding a cringe. "Paulina, I didn't do anything to the ghost-boy. He always got away from me."

_The only thing I did to him was chase him off and turn him into that monster we have to stop..._

"Well, then where is he?" Paulina insisted. "The ghost-boy always comes to the rescue!"

I paused, uncertain what to say. I could have explained that the ghost-boy was Danny Fenton, and that the ghost we had to fight was the ghost-kid, but it felt wrong. I knew Paulina practically worshiped the ground Phantom walked on, and that most everybody else at Casper High held a favorable opinion of the town's most famous ghost. Heck, after that ghost invasion when the town was sucked into the Ghost Zone, most of the town saw him as a hero. It felt wrong to shatter that belief, after Danny had worked so hard to save all these people. It felt wrong, and I knew that such knowledge would likely only demoralize these people, and we needed morale badly.

"... The ghost boy won't be coming to the rescue ever again." I finally admitted, finding my shoes suddenly very fascinating.

That got a collective gasp from the gathered people.

"But he always fights to save people!"

"What happened to him?"

"What did you do with him?!"

That last shout was tinged heavily with accusation, and I found myself surprised at the hurt in Paulina's voice. I'd always thought her fixation on the ghost was borne of some selfish, shallow desire, but the hurt in her voice seemed genuine. Startled, I forced myself to meet her accusing gaze.

"I didn't do anything with him. That ghost right now..." I faltered at the lie. "That ghost destroyed him. I saw it happen."

It wasn't quite the truth, but it certainly wasn't a total lie. The Danny I knew had been destroyed after a fashion by the Danny that now was.

Paulina recoiled. "He's... gone? Like, gone forever?"

I nodded, trying hard not to let the tears show that I felt welling up. "Forever. He suffered before the end, too. Badly." Again, another truth, though warped slightly so as to hide the complete truth.

Paulina bristled angrily, brandishing her fingers in a way faintly reminiscent of a cat, her manicured nails resembling wicked talons. "Count me in. I'll make that ghost pay for hurting Inviso-Bill!"

"Uh... didn't he call himself Danny Phantom, not Inviso-Bill?" Dash looked at the Latina oddly.

"Whatever he called himself, he's gone." I said hurriedly, hoping no one would suddenly figure out the Fenton connection. "It's up to us to save our homes this time."

"If Paulina's in... so am I!" Star declared, though she didn't seem to have the same degree of conviction that the more popular girl had.

"Me too!" Dash declared, slamming one fist into the other palm. He was pale from nerves I noticed, though I kindly didn't point out that his knees were shaking.

"I don't want my home to get blown up, yo!" Kwan whimpered. "How are we gonna stop him?"

Soon everyone in the room chorused their support. Nothing like a city-wide apocalyptic disaster to bring people together.

"We'll have to drive him back into the Ghost Zone. Follow me." I led them down into the basement where the Fenton Ghost Portal was, casting its idle green light on the floor. In the two weeks between Danny running away and his violent return, I had become quite familiar with the lab and command center. "We've got to lure him and drive him down here, and force him through that portal. And then close it behind him."

Under my direction, the lab was raided for ghost hunting weapons, and I shared liberally from my arsenal as well, wondering to myself if a group of misfits like we were would actually stand a chance against Danny. We had to, there was literally **no** other option. Once everyone had some sort of gun or other weapon, we began to lay the battle plan. We were immensely lucky, to be honest. Given what Danny had told me when he tried to kill me, FentonWorks seemed like it would have been a priority target- had he shown up while we were planning, we probably all would be dead.

The plan we eventually settled on was simple enough. As the most experienced fighter present, I would take the most dangerous task of leading him. I would use my jet sled, get his attention, and then run. The others would fan out around FentonWorks, flank him if possible, and prevent him from taking a different route. Once we got him down in the basement, he would have to be driven into the portal, which would have to be immediately sealed. Paulina surprised me again, by volunteering to stand point guard just outside FentonWorks, where she would very likely end up seeing combat. Apparently not wishing to be shown up by a cheerleader, Dash reluctantly also agreed to man that position as well.

I had the gamer nerds stationed on rooftops and upper-floor windows, armed with long-range weaponry. The cheerleaders got the melee weapons, while the jocks got sidearms of assorted kinds. The rest of the volunteers had an odd assortment of  gadgets, gizmos, and assigned locations. The plan was hodgepodge at best, but what more could be expected of a bunch of scared kids and adults, all fighting in this nightmare scenario only because they had no other options? Once everyone was in position, I hopped aboard my sled, my aches and pains washed away by a fresh surge of adrenaline. I only had one of my smaller weapons- I didn't need heavy firepower this time- I needed a way to get his attention, and beyond that, all I required was pure speed. Paulina saluted me as I took to the sky, her expression dark, and apparently not minding the impressive weight of the large gun she had selected. Hers was the look of the avenging lover, though Phantom had never responded to her advances. I briefly wondered what she would have thought had she known that the object of her obsession was the shy "loser" she had scorned in the past.

I think it was an unspoken acknowledgment among the members of our makeshift army that there _would_ be deaths. We just didn't know who, or how, or even if we would be victorious. I believe we had all settled our accounts, at least in our own minds, and had moved into a strange state of mind that exists beyond fear and beyond hope. No one wanted to go into this optimistic, only to have that hope crushed. It's a strange place to be, a grim state of mind. We were fighting the devil himself, or a passable facsimile thereof, and if we were going to die anyway, we were going to go down swinging.

Bracing myself to face Danny again, I pointed my sled toward the center of the rampage, where the explosions were. This was it, I honestly thought I was flying to my death. I stayed high, where I'd be in plain sight to anyone that looked up. Before long, I tracked the explosions to their source, and there he was. Even from my height, I could hear him laughing, a disturbingly cheerful sound in the midst of the cacophony of pained shrieks and explosions. I looked down and bit back a pained cry at the scene. The air stank of his most recent deed, the burning shell of what had been a bus masking the dozen or so corpses who had been on board it, people who had been only trying to escape town, trying to awake from the nightmare.

Amazingly, he hadn't noticed me yet. I guess the noise of my sled's engines was drowned out by the chaos of his rampage. It was as good a situation as I could hope for, so I aimed my gun and the two small blasters on my jet sled, training all of the weapons on the very dead center of the achingly familiar nested DP emblem. Soundlessly, I pulled the trigger and tapped the foot switch, the weapons spewing pink beams. Danny was more intent at that moment on the wreckage of the bus, and was caught square in the chest by the triple-blast and bowled clean off his feet.

Danny tumbled head-over-heels before slamming into a nearby wall, too surprised apparently to phase through it. I dove down to street level while he recovered and fixed that hateful crimson gaze of his on me. "So you finally crawled out of your hiding hole, Valerie?" He spat, floating into the air.

"You're goin' down ghost!" I snarled with a vehemence I didn't truly feel, taking a few more potshots at Danny before I spun my sled around and took off. I heard Danny howl with rage and knew he was giving chase, though I didn't dare turn around to look. I would have been killed by way of crashing if I took my eyes off where I was going. It was pure reckless flying, keeping low in the streets, blasting through narrow alleyways instead of taking to the open skies above the rooftops. I knew that I couldn't keep ahead of Danny in a pure drag race- sure, he could simply go through the buildings like they weren't even there, but then he ran the risk of losing sight of his target. By taking my chances down among the buildings, he had to follow the course I set, or lose me in either a cloud of debris or through a building. He didn't want to get ambushed a second time.

"Yes, run!" I heard him shout somewhere behind me. "Just like before, only I'm not going to be so forgiving as to let you escape a second time!"

I quickly dialed the Fentons' phone number on my cell phone- the ring would signal those stationed around the building that the ghost had taken the bait and we were on our way. The rest I had to leave in the hands of the volunteers, and hope that they didn't accidentally hit me by mistake. I knew that everyone was likely as twitchy as I was, and it was entirely possible that those hair-trigger nerves would go off the instant Danny and I came into view.

I saw the first green beams he fired in the reflections of office building windows as I tore by, swerving wildly to avoid them, and cringing at the explosions followed almost immediately by the musical tinkle of shattering glass. Danny was gaining on me despite my efforts, his speed had improved drastically, something I hadn't expected when I laid the plan.

"C'mon, go faster-! Go _**faster**_!" I urged through clenched teeth, ignoring the flashes of pain from my bandaged chest and ducking as low to my sled as possible to reduce drag and hopefully wring just a little more speed from my battered ride. It wouldn't be much longer before we got within firing range of the first snipers, and then the real battle would begin.

"Too scared to fight me?" I heard Danny taunting, smug amusement clear in his voice. "Or are you still too caught up in how we _feel_ for each other? Hoping that I'll come to my _senses_ and we can all live _happily ever after?_ "

I cringed. Despite Danny's apparent madness, it still seemed clear to me that he was upset, somewhere underneath the cruelty, somewhere beneath the anger and the hate. I thought for just a moment that maybe, just _maybe_ the shy boy still existed under that frightful facade, that maybe I could still reach him. I opened my mouth to call back to him, then shut it with an audible click of teeth, remembering the apparition of Sam from the night before, and the warning my own father had given me before that. _That's not Danny, Valerie. Not anymore. ...Won't you feel worse if he destroys everything you fought to protect?_

I pulled my sled almost sideways in a hairpin turn, and then we were there, in the shadow of the massive FentonWorks structure.

Two energy beams, one the trademark green of Fenton equipment, the other the pinkish-red of my gear shot down from the rooftops. One blast missed Danny, though barely, the other caught him in the back and sent him plummeting to the street with a startled yelp. Almost immediately a flurry of additional blasts rained down from above, many harmlessly striking the street, but several scorching Danny, making him yowl in pain.

"OPEN FIRE!" I bellowed over the maelstrom, wincing as the effort sent stabbing pain through my midsection. My jet sled clawed for altitude and I added my own volley of blasts from high above. For just an instant, it seemed surreal, almost like one of those tactical strategy games, where I had a bird's-eye view of the field, of my troops.

The illusion was shattered when Danny got to his feet, flinging his hands out in opposite directions, twin green ecto blasts careening into nearby windows, blowing the windows and massive chunks of the walls out. The first two casualties. The only mercy was that it had to have been quick- I never heard either of the snipers cry out.

It was difficult even for Danny to avoid all of the intense crossfire we'd set up, and I was pleased to note that for the most part, everyone was sticking to the plan. The most intense firestorm was farther from the building and slowly closing in, while I had specifically told those nearer the building to hold their fire until the ghost was in close. It was simple convenience for Danny to go to where there were fewer blasts to avoid while he returned fire, picking off the snipers and other gunners one by one. He didn't know the goal of our attack was not to destroy him, but to drive him. I suspect if he had realized what we were really up to, we would have failed.

"It's about time someone put up a _barely_ capable defense!" Danny hissed, grinning like an absolute maniac the entire time, even as blasts struck him, scorching holes in his suit and raising ugly wounds that oozed green. I cringed every time I saw a green blast lance outward, knowing each one signaled the murder or mortal wounding of one of the volunteers. But slowly, he was being whittled down, slowly drawing near the building.

Knowing I could do little more from my present vantage, I fired both the missiles carried on my jet sled and dove for the command center atop the building. Once Danny was in range, I had to activate the ghost shield to trap Danny within a limited radius... probably the most dangerous part of the operation, fighting a caged animal.

I heard Paulina's shrill cry followed by the resounding WHUMP of that large ecto-cannon firing as I slammed the button and saw the familiar green dome of the shield rain down from above.

"Paulina-?" I heard Danny yelp, apparently surprised to find the Latina in the heart of a warzone. I heard his voice take on that sly, smug tone again. "Well, this is amusing... the ghost shield to trap me? All I have to do to destroy the build-"

"This is for killing Inviso-Bill!" Paulina interrupted the ghost, and I heard several more shots fired. I ran to the window, too short on breath to be able to help.

"How do you kill a ghost?" Dash looked dumbfounded.

Paulina shot the jock a dirty look. "Don't just stand there! Shoot him!"

Dash looked at the two ecto-guns he was holding, as if remembering just then he had the weapons. "Oh, right! Eat... whatever these things fire!"

Several of the other defenders approached the dome, but were limited in their firing by Dash and Paulina being in so close. Danny smirked, avoiding Dash's clumsy blows, but he was knocked flat by Paulina's cannon nailing him square in the face. I never knew that a really ticked off cheerleader could be such a good shot, but the fact of the matter is, were it not for Paulina and her surprisingly intense desire for revenge, I don't think we would have managed to drive Danny through the portal.

"I've had enough of you and Dash." Danny snarled as he recovered, turning intangible and disappearing into the ground.

"Look out!" I shouted from above. Paulina glanced up at the sound of my voice, only to get caught blindsided instead as Danny shot up through the ground, the back of his hand slamming hard into the Latina's face. She tumbled a good twenty feet and laid still where she landed, scuffed up and apparently unconscious.

With a feral grin, Danny turned his malign attention on the next-closest defender. To his credit, Dash stood his ground, visibly trembling as he raised his weapons and fired wildly. I tried to draw a bead on the ghost from the window, but I was trembling myself from my efforts, from pushing my battered body so hard so soon. But what choice was there?

"Isn't _this_ an ironic reversal?" Danny smiled, showing his fangs as he stalked toward Dash. The ghost pointed one hand back behind him, a green blast tearing up huge slabs of the concrete and the street and sending them flying into the thick of the defenders, who had to scatter, leaving the jock and the ghost alone in their confrontation.

"Reverse this, loser!" Dash yelped, backing away from Danny as he continued to fire at the ghost. It was surprising just how effeminate the jock's voice could be when he was in a panic.

"'Loser', am I?" Danny laughed outright, launching forward and grabbing Dash's wrists, gripping tight enough that Dash had no choice but to drop the guns, yelping in pain. "How appropriate, Dash. Do you _know_ who I am?"

"N-no!" Dash gibbered. "You're the ghost that... that killed Danny Phantom!" The jock struggled against Danny's grasp.

Danny threw his head back, howling with laughter at that, while Dash stared at the ghost with wide, terrified eyes. "That's the story Valerie is spreading? That's rich!" Danny spun, flinging Dash hard into a nearby wall, pouncing the taller boy in an instant, one hand now at the jock's throat. "I **_am_ ** Danny Phantom."

Dash's already wide eyes set a new record as he thrashed against the ghost's grip. "Th-that's impossible! He'd never do-"

"Never do what? Stand up to you? _Hurt_ you?" Danny hissed, leaning low to stare Dash in the eyes. "Oh, wait. I forgot. Danny _Fenton_ was the one that would sit back and take your juvenile abuse... despite having the power to put an end to your stupid antics months ago. But no, all he did was very rarely use his powers to embarrass you, to avoid your bullying. When he could just as easily have done _**this**_!" He raised his free hand, a massive green sphere of energy forming in his palm.

Dash gasped out in surprise as it got through even his infamously thick skull what Danny was getting at."Y-you mean... Fenton... he's the... he's you?!"

I cursed myself soundly for my uselessness, unable to steady my aim from the roof in my exhausted state. I couldn't bear to watch, but couldn't tear my stare from the scene unfolding below.

"Give the boy a prize!" Danny sneered at Dash's terrified face. "Though perhaps it would be more accurate to say he _was_ me. I'm no longer that soft-hearted _fool_. **I** get rid of those who get in my way."

"N-no! I'm sorry! I'll never do it again-!" Dash whimpered. "Please don't-!"

"I want you to know, Dash." Danny leaned close to whisper loudly in the jock's ear. "I'm going to _**enjoy** _ this."

"NooOOO **OOO** -!" I winced as Dash's scream reached a piercingly painful pitch, cut off all too abruptly as the energy blast engulfed him. It was horrible. I never cared much for the overconfident jock, but he had been killed for my cause, and as an indirect result of my own actions. Yet another burden to my load of guilt.

Danny stood there laughing, almost daring the rest of the defenders to try and fight him after that display. I was the only conscious person near enough to have heard Danny's cruel taunt before he killed Dash, but after that display of power, everyone was hesitant to move against the ghost out of a sense of self-preservation.

He didn't see Paulina though, back on her feet and creeping quietly toward him. She glanced up at the command center, my gaze met hers briefly, and she nodded once, indicating Danny and then pointing down. I understood what she meant and got ready to fly my sled through the house to the basement on her cue. To this day, I don't know how Danny failed to notice the Latina sneaking up on him. She looked terrible, her previously flawless skin sporting a multitude of bruises and cuts from her flight, and an ugly welt visible beneath one eye, where Danny had hit her. Her expression though... I suppose there's more truth to the saying "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" than people it give credit for.

I started for the basement when I saw her take a running leap, pouncing Danny and knocking him to the ground. Her shout was clear even over the sound of the cannon firing right into Danny's back.

"THIS IS FOR TAKING THE GHOST-BOY FROM ME!"

He must have turned intangible to avoid the worst of the point-blank shot, because he slammed into the basement floor just seconds after I skidded to a halt at the base of the stairs. It took Danny a long moment to totter upright- I guess the accumulated damage was finally getting to him. We locked eyes then as I leveled the largest weapon I had at him- a massive gun with multiple barrels.

"So this is it." Danny remarked flatly. His tone didn't betray it, his red eyes did, full of hate. Hating me, hating the recently-departed Dash, hating the city he grew up in and the home he was raised in.

"You got that right, Danny." I growled at him. "Anything I might have felt for you... gone. You killed it, just like you killed all those people."

Danny didn't seem all too terribly perturbed by my statement, or the very large gun I had unsteadily trained on him. I couldn't have hit him from the rooftop, but there was no way I could miss him at this range. And the only thing to catch him was the glowing green portal wide open behind him.

"Amusing. I wonder, can you **really** shoot me, Valerie?" Danny crossed his arms. "Would you shoot your _dear_ friend?"

"I wouldn't shoot my _friend_." I snarled. "But that's not a problem. _You're_ not him."

Danny smirked at me as my finger tightened on the trigger. "Are you so certain of that?"

I gasped when I saw the white rings appear at his waist, one scanning down to his feet, the other over his head. I nearly lost it when the white and black bodysuit was again replaced with the familiar jeans and white t-shirt and I found myself staring down Danny Fenton. He stood there, smirking at me, his arms still crossed.

"D-danny?!" My weapon lowered barely an inch in disbelief, taking a small step backward, my resolve thrown into sudden confusion. There he was, standing right there, the kind boy I believed was gone forever-

_That **monster** isn't Danny!_

"That's right... you can't shoot little old me, right, Val?" Danny smiled at me, taking a step forward. "We're pals, aren't we?"

_No! Focus! That's **not** him! His eyes, look at his eyes!_

I shook myself from my stupor and stared at Danny's eyes. They were still that wicked red, not the crystal blue of my friend. He had Danny's face, but his eyes were still those of that fiend. I forced myself to look only at his eyes and I raised my weapon again.

"We were once, Danny." I blinked away the tears I felt stinging my eyes at the painfully familiar sight of that sweet innocent boy- they slid to my chin and I steadied my aim. "But not anymore. Not now. Goodbye, Danny."

He started to open his mouth to say something, but he was cut off by my weapon firing a massive pink beam that caught him full-on. He shrieked once, a long, piercing wail as he tried to stand his ground, but weakened from all the hits he'd taken outside, he couldn't resist the force and was flung backwards, right into the portal.

Quaking, I slid to my knees, pointing my gun at what I thought was the control unit for the portal. One blast later, and the portal's green glow dimmed, the heavy yellow and black doors slamming shut across the now-silent device. Paulina was the first of the defenders to enter the building, and found me slumped on the basement floor, staring at the sealed portal.

"Did you get him?" The Latina asked, helping me to my feet. I nodded numbly.

"He's gone. I shot him through the portal... he can't get back through." I let my gun slide from my fingers. "For now, at least."

I knew the victory was short-lived. He would be back, I saw the hate in those eyes clear as day. Somehow, he would find a way back out of the Ghost Zone, more powerful than before, and he would try and finish what he'd started. It was only a matter of time. If we didn't prepare, we wouldn't be able to stop him a second time. I quietly bowed my head, too tired from my injuries, exhaustion, and emotional hurt, leaning heavily on Paulina for support as she helped me upstairs to share the news with the rest of the surviving defenders.

_Goodbye, Danny. I'm sorry it had to come to this._


	7. The Castle's Keeper

**The Castle's Keeper**  
"And if you come, when all the flowers are dying  
And I am dead, as dead I well may be  
You'll come and find the place where I am lying  
And kneel and say an "Ave" there for me."  
_-"Danny Boy"_

The first day after the successful fight was spent largely in shock, the entire city gripped in a quiet disbelief, going through the empty motions of daily life. I spent the better part of that day in the hospital again, being tended for exhaustion, and internal bleeding I'm told. Rescue crews began the long process of looking for survivors, or more accurately, collecting the corpses. I'm glad I didn't see what little was left of the people who were killed in our last-ditch attempt to rid ourselves of the ghost- the descriptions I heard alone made me lose my lunch. All they ever managed to find of Dash was a small mass of unrecognizable ash and goo.

The cleanup efforts would ultimately take months, but I wasn't involved in that part of the aftermath. Once I was recovered enough from the battle to get out of bed, I was suddenly a celebrity, the hunter girl that saved Amity Park. I meekly brushed off the praise, tried to shift it to the brave people who had helped me fight and borne the brunt of the casualties, with limited success. There was only one thing I took advantage of my newfound fame for- guiding the town's decisions regarding future ghost attacks. As the resident expert in town, I was able to convince the mayor and most of the people that Danny would be back and that our victory was only temporary. After all, we were barely able to drive him away this time, and I knew he would only grow stronger. We had to be ready, or we wouldn't even have that slim chance at stopping him when he returned.

At my recommendation, FentonWorks was turned truly into a ghost-hunting command center, with my father and I in charge of it. It was depressing and humbling to know that the town so looked up to me to put me, then a fourteen year old girl, in charge of such a vital and dangerous task. Under my direction, Axion Labs was permitted to raid the basement lab for technologies to reverse-engineer. If I was in charge of a special anti-ghost task force, we needed proper equipment, and I hadn't heard from Mr. Masters in some time, so I couldn't simply ask him for lots more weapons. To be honest, I desperately wished to get ahold of the billionaire, and find out more from him about ghosts and ghost-hunting in general, since he seemed extremely knowledgeable on the subject. But I couldn't get through on the phone, and I had to help get the defense force set up, so I couldn't just pop off for a week to make the trip to Wisconsin.

I spent a great deal of that year training the recruits. I was again surprised to find many of the survivors from the battle signing on. With the Fenton Portal no longer working, things were actually very quiet insofar as the ghosts went, which was fine with me. The last thing I wanted were a bunch of ghosts coming through and attacking before the Ghost Patrol was ready.

When I wasn't training the recruits, I was taking care of my dad. It took him a long while to adjust to his handicap, and we would spend hours at length in the Fentons' lab discussing what had happened to us, to Danny, to everyone. Thankfully, he agreed that we should keep Danny's secret from the public- it seemed spiteful to ruin the reputation of Danny Phantom just because he had metamorphosed into a creature straight out of nightmare. And it would have made things incredibly difficult- people would be angry, or would have thought we were nuts. Looking back, those days were surprisingly pleasant, a bond had formed between my father and I, we had a greater understanding than any time before. I guess near-death experiences can have that effect on the survivors.

Still, the burden of leadership weighed heavy on me. My dad helped where he could, eventually taking over command of the patrol, but it was still difficult. I'd been raised onto a pedestal of sorts, but felt entirely unworthy of all the praise. After all, we never would have had to drive that demon into the Ghost Zone if I had kept my word to Danny and not gone nuts when he revealed his secret to me. But of course I couldn't tell anyone that without revealing that secret, which I absolutely refused to do.

That first year passed, the clumsy students and survivors becoming increasingly capable, almost resembling a proper paramilitary force after some eighteen months of practice. Axion was having some trouble in mass-producing the weapons and equipment, but things were proceeding well enough that I finally felt I could take off and get away from the adoration and get the ghost hunting advice I felt I direly needed.

"Be careful, sweetie." My dad gave me a tight hug. "I'll take care of things here."

He stepped back as I hopped onto my sled, pulling my jacket tight around me. It would be a long trip, even by flying to Wisconsin, and it would probably be cold this time of year. "I will. You guys call me if anything happens."

I waved to people I saw below as I took off, left eventually with only my thoughts and the wilderness for company. Without my old suit though, my hair was left whipping around wildly despite my tying it back for the trip. I considered having it cut to be more manageable, since my priorities had shifted dramatically in the past year. Ghost hunting was no longer my hobby, a fringe job while I tried to maintain my social life and work toward college. It had become my career, whether I wanted it to be or not.

I was surprised to see signs of destruction along my route- truck stops blasted to their foundations, roads pocked with craters, great grey swatches of torn-up farmland. It was eerily reminiscent of the destroyed parts of Amity Park. Had Danny come this way, I wondered? The damage didn't look recent at least, otherwise I would have been seriously worried that he was on the loose again. If all this was old damage... just where had Danny gone when he first ran away? I had a bad feeling as the random destruction continued to follow the route I was flying- a straight shot from Amity Park to Madison, Wisconsin.

My sinking feeling hit an all-new low when I got within sight of Mr. Masters' estate. I hadn't been given his address, but his castle-like estate had been featured in magazines and on shows like "Lifestyles of the Filthy Stinking Rich", so it wasn't exactly difficult to find. It wasn't, but not for the reasons you would think. I expected to see the photogenic castle from some distance off by air.

I found instead a blasted out ruin, grey in the morning sunlight, the far end of a line of destruction that began in Amity Park. Weeds had begun to overtake what was left of the structure, what had to have been well-kept gardens already overtaken by the wilderness.

"What on earth happened here-?" I asked the cool morning air as I landed outside the ruin, both awed by the impressive size of the place, and concerned by its ruined state. Small wonder I hadn't heard anything from Mr. Masters in over a year, I had no way to know then if he was even alive.

"Miss Valerie Grey?" A familiar voice inquired, sounding surprised and weary. "What brings you here to my... **Oh**."

I spun around to confront the voice, and gasped at what I saw. Vlad Masters was alive alright, but it looked almost as if the man had aged a decade in just over a year. His suit was worn out in places, his eyes had a hollow, weary look that reminded me disturbingly of Danny's expression the day I drove him away. "Mr. Masters? What happened here? What happened to _you_?"

He sighed heavily, glancing at the ruin around us, then he smiled without humor at me. "Yes, I suppose I owe you that much. Please, come in. I was frankly beginning to wonder if I would ever hear from you. I feared the worst, really." Vlad led me to a door into the ruin, hanging slightly askew off its hinges.

I followed him as he hobbled inside, using a simple wooden cane to help support his weight. The interior of the mansion was arguably worse than the exterior. Everything had a charred look to it, walls shattered, ceilings torn, furniture and decorations smashed to bits. It reminded me entirely too much of the wreckage I'd left behind in Amity Park.

"What _happened_ here? I came to get advice and new equipment for ghost hunting, but..." I trailed off when the older man stopped and turned to face me.

"If you're here for that, then I imagine it's the same thing that's likely happened in Amity Park." Vlad's expression was ashamed. "I assume that Daniel returned to his home after he destroyed my castle?"

I was startled. "Wait, you know about Danny? And the part-ghost thing?"

He laughed then, a thin, humorless sound. "Yes, I probably know more about it than he ever did. Please, have a seat." He motioned to a battered but serviceable chair, easing his own thin frame into what was once probably a very comfortable upholstered lounge. "He told me about what happened, Valerie. That he revealed he was a hybrid to you, and that you took it rather badly."

"Danny came here?" I was surprised. I knew that the billionaire was friends with the Fentons, but I never realized how close they had to have been, if Danny had come to Vlad in the wake of the tragedy.

"Indeed. With his family and friends gone, and thinking you were determined to kill him, he came to me, as the only person left on the face of the planet that could even remotely understand him." Vlad explained, his expression downcast. "I took the boy in, of course. The least I could do to honor Maddie's memory was to take care of her son."

I frowned. "Wait, you _knew_ Danny was the ghost-kid, but you still gave me weapons and encouraged me to go after him?"

"One of many mistakes I made." Vlad heaved a sigh, regarding an old photograph wistfully. "You see Valerie, young Daniel was not the only ghost hybrid, nor was he the first."

I narrowed my eyes warily. "Who was?"

Vlad smirked slightly at my wariness. "Unfortunately, I had the dubious honor of being the first hybrid accidentally created by one of Jack's devices."

"You WHAT?!" I jumped to my feet, half expecting the man to change in front of me.

"Sit down, Valerie." Vlad didn't seem terribly surprised by my outburst. "Daniel and I were archrivals, you could say. Just two short years ago, I was plotting how to kill Jack for ruining my life, and stealing Maddie away for myself. As for young Daniel, I tried to either get out of my way, or to join my side." He looked over at me, his expression shamed. "To that end, I manipulated you and played off your hatred of ghosts to further my own ends."

I found myself angry now, but bit back the enraged response and a surprisingly strong desire to hit the billionaire. "So what'd you do to him when he came here?"

"I may have been the villain, Valerie, but even I'm not so cruel." Vlad rebuked my accusation. "The poor boy was terribly upset when he arrived. What more could I do to him? Jack was already dead, that was no longer something we could fight over, and we both grieved Maddie's death."

He loved Danny's mom, I realized, making a disgusted face at the thought. And he'd been out to kill Danny's dad for ruining his life... that was ironically familiar. I forced myself from those thoughts. "Well when he came _back_ , he wasn't upset. He was on a rampage. What the heck happened?"

Vlad sighed again. "Daniel wanted to make the hurt go away, the boy was barely sane in his grief. He blamed himself for those deaths, you realize. He told me if he hadn't cheated on an exam, that no one would have been there when the Nasty Burger exploded."

I nodded slightly, still glaring. Danny had said it was his fault the day he revealed his secret to me.

"I had the thought then, though I regret it now. He wanted to be free of those awful human emotions, and I thought that perhaps I had a way to give him his wish." Vlad shook his head sadly. "If I could separate his ghost half out, then he no longer would feel he had to play the hero, perhaps it would lift his grief somewhat."

I cringed, the idea sounded painful. "How do you do something like _that_?"

Vlad found the scorched floor very interesting. "With some of my equipment. He was desperate to be free of the pain, Valerie, and he consented to my suggestion- I did _not_ force the boy into it. So we went ahead with it, and I was successfully able to pull Daniel's ghost and human selves apart."

I cringed again, the thought of being ripped in half like that sounded terrible. "But what happened? What made him do all this?" I gestured at the ruin all around us.

Vlad shook his head slightly. "I made a dire mistake. Ghosts don't generally experience emotion the way the living do. They often fixate on a single thing, that they obsess over. Daniel's ghost self, freed of guilt and remorse, was extremely angry. Angry at himself for failing to save his friends and family, angry at me for all my schemes in the past..."

"Did you fight him?" I briefly wondered what Vlad must have looked like as a ghost.

"I didn't have the chance. I was knocked back into a wall before I could transform, and he took the special gloves I had used for the operation, the Ghost Gauntlets. Just as I'd done, he ripped my ghost half out as well." Vlad winced at the recollection. "Then he tried to overshadow my ghost self. That's when things went so horribly awry. After all, when you take two halves and put them together-"

"You get a whole." I finished for him, eyes wide with surprise. "So then... that monster isn't really Danny... that is a ghost... completely?"

Vlad shrugged. "If not completely, then very near to it. He screamed as my ghost half fused with his. Truly a terrifying sound, even I could only shudder in fear at the transformation."

I frowned, an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. "If that was Danny's ghost half.... then what happened to his human half?" I had a terrible feeling that I already knew the answer to that question, but I had to know for certain.

Vlad cringed, clamping his eyes shut briefly against the memory. "It may be best if I show you." He got up and bade me follow him further into the ruined mansion. I followed, trying to hide my trepidation, already feeling the slight sting of tears pricking at my eyes. He led me to what might have once been a study, if the battered bookshelves were any indication, and showed me to a concealed passageway leading downward a ways before it opened on yet more of the ruin.

"This _was_ my secret lab." Vlad explained, indicating the room, the trashed equipment, the ceiling of the underground chamber now blown wide open, revealing the cold blue sky overhead. "It was here that I attempted that operation. This very room was where that monster, as you so aptly put it, was created."

I looked around, disgusted and appalled. The room was literally a disaster area. "And Danny-?"

Vlad winced again and directed my gaze to the far wall of the chamber, sheltered from the elements slightly by an overhanging ledge formed of the ceiling. "That is where it ended." He stated lamely, his expression showing the memory of the horror he had witnessed. "I would like to say it was quick... but I don't wish to lie anymore. It was... truly awful, a brutal ending."

My gaze fell on a portion of the metal wall paneling, and I gasped, running over to study it, tears blurring my vision. I felt my stomach protest the sight as I traced one of the splashes of color with a fingertip, the tears falling unchecked as I pulled my hand back, my fingertip bringing several of the red-black flecks with it. Even after a year and a half of exposure to the elements, the wall was stained thick with the blackish-red substance. The _blood_. I'd known in my heart that one way or another, the Danny I had been so fond of was dead, but this... This was the proof, the irrevocable, final evidence that he was truly gone. I didn't want to believe it, staring at that wall, wondering just how terrible it was, to have painted the metal so heavily.

"No... Danny!" Grief I'd kept bottled up for the past year and a half found release at last as I fell to my hands and knees, whimpers escaping between rattling sobs, the sound of my cries echoing weakly through the ruined castle. "You can't be gone... Danny, I'm so sorry. I was so stupid! All because of me... you're... you're..." I couldn't bear to say it. Gone. _Dead_.

I felt Vlad's hand on my shoulder, the billionaire offering what little comfort he could as I bawled my eyes out. "He can't be gone! He can't! Danny, I'm so sorry, you didn't have to leave... not like this!"

Vlad had no words, he simply waited while I wailed my grief, mourning the death of my dear friend. My imagination conjured dozens of scenarios as to how Danny had died, each one more terrible than the last. It had to have been as Vlad said- brutal, to have painted that section of wall so thickly red.  After several minutes that passed like an eternity, my sobbing faded to silence, my tears leaving a chaotic pattern of spots in the layer of dust covering the floor.

The billionaire broke the silence, helping me back to my feet and steadying me- my legs could barely hold me up, I was shivering so terribly. "Would you like to see him?" He offered quietly. "It isn't far, I'm sure you would like to give him a proper farewell."

I managed to nod slightly, wiping my eyes haphazardly on my sleeve. I was numb in a way, the enormity of what had happened was simply more than I could process all at once. In silence, Vlad turned and led the way outside. True to his word, the place wasn't far from the ruins, a few hundred feet away in the forest that surrounded the place, a small clearing with a large rock formation at one end. Sunlight poured into the clearing between the overhanging boughs, illuminating the grass, a scattering of wildflowers, and the rocks.

And the grave, a rough-hewn mound, carpeted now with fresh grass and bursts of tiny white and yellow flowers. Vlad stayed in the shade at the edge of the clearing, while I staggered forward slowly, eyes wide, wishing desperately to disbelieve what I was seeing. A pile of stones marked one end of the grave, a plain wooden cross rising from it. Tied at the junction of the wooden beams was a tattered white scrap of cloth sporting several deep red stains, the shredded ends flapping weakly in the light breeze. At the base of the cross was a slab of some sort of plastic, anchored to the stone, a slightly battered photograph protected by the clear resin. It was a picture of Danny, smiling happily with his friends and family, FentonWorks visible in the background, all of them without a care in the world, a moment of contentment frozen in time. This was it, the final resting place of Amity Park's resident hero; a quiet glade in the Wisconsin wilderness, far away from his friends and his family for eternity, all alone in a simple grave with none but a battered old man to tend it.

I knelt next to the earthen mound, staring quietly at the simple monument. I thought for certain I would break down in tears again, but it seemed I was beyond tears then, held steady by the sort of quiet shock that follows on the heels of hysterical grief. The sun slowly crept across the sky, gradually marking the passing of hours, but I couldn't bring myself to move from Danny's side, not yet. Vlad murmured he would be waiting in the mansion, quietly slipping away to leave me alone with my friend.

"I'm so sorry, Danny." I whispered to the breeze, feeling new tears coming at last. Not the flood like had happened in the ruined lab, but the steady trickle of a deep grief. "I doubt you can hear me now, but I'm so sorry. I was an idiot, I didn't mean to be so cruel, Danny. This is all my fault. I broke my promise, and you suffered because of it."

I wiped my eyes, one hand brushing lightly over the encased photograph. "Can you see me now, Danny? Pretty pathetic, huh? Without you around, things went down the toilet. But I guess at least you got what you wanted in the end. Wherever you are now, you're beyond all the pain, right? No more worries, no more fighting, no more hurting. You can see your family again, right? Maybe you and Sam can be together now. She loved you, Danny. She was a better friend than I could ever be. She would never have hurt you the way I did. It's going to be hard to go on now, but it's not your fault. You tried your very best."

The breeze flitted through the clearing, suddenly carrying the chill of winter, and I shivered, pulling my jacket tight around me as I hunched down against the cold. "I know you tried to save them, Danny, but I couldn't save you. I had my chance, we all did. And now I'll never see you again, I'll never be able to make amends for those awful things I said to you. You tried so hard, Danny, but I guess it was more than you could handle alone. But I won't let you down now. I'll protect everyone for you. You'd be heartbroken to see that monster... all that's left of you in this world. But I'll fight on as long as I can. For you, Danny."

I was out of words then, and I threw my arms around the cold stones at the base of the cross, letting the last of my tears fall and be lost in the crevices. I could almost imagine it was Danny I was embracing tightly as I gave him my farewell. I'm not sure how long I sat there in silence, the only sound that of the breeze flapping the ruined t-shirt hanging from the monument. The shadows stretched long over the grass by the time I finally rose to my feet and turned slowly to leave. I only paused briefly at the edge of the trees, turning to stare at the monument for a long moment, one final confession quietly mouthed to the wind.

"I hope you can finally be happy now." I bowed my head before I left. "I love you, Danny."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... Goddamnit, you'd think almost ten years later after first writing this, that this chapter wouldn't still turn me into a teary-eyed wreck.


	8. A War in Progress

**A War in Progress**  
"I can hear their lament between these rocks  
The whisper of an angry ghost  
He speaks for them all trapped on this lost world  
I am their very last hope"  
_-"Eternal Glory" - Rhapsody_

"This is all your fault!" I shouted, the sound carrying erratically through the ruined mansion.

Despite my flash of temper, Vlad Masters was infuriatingly contrite. You know what they say about the grieving process- denial, sorrow, anger, and so on. Well, I was moving right out of sorrow after paying my respects at Danny's grave, and now I stood firmly in anger while we were discussing the situation regarding Danny. No, wait. That monster doesn't deserve to share a name with that loveable boy. Dan, then, for lack of a better name. Or Phantom. Sure, I had chased Danny off, but this _madman_ was the reason that monster was born!

"Yes, and I shall rue my actions thoroughly." The billionaire sighed, eying that college photograph he had sitting on a salvaged shelf. "Now, do you want my help or not?"

I stopped short before I could continue ranting, and before I could indulge a desire to smack Vlad upside the head repeatedly. "How much _can_ **you** help?" I glared at him, clearly doubting the man and his intentions.

"Much of my lab was destroyed, but you would be surprised and pleased to know that my most recently developed equipment is surprisingly durable." Vlad smirked at me. "And if you can leave just a telephone, I can assist in other ways."

"What? How?" I glowered, trying to keep most of the curiosity out of my tone. Amity Park honestly needed all the help it could get, but I didn't want to say as much.

"My castle was destroyed, Valerie. _Not_ my fortunes." Vlad stated flatly. "I've been cut off from civilization this past year, so I haven't been able to tap into that. With communication to the outside world, I can access my wealth and perhaps put it to _good_ use for the first time in my life."

I paused, considering that. The man _was_ a billionaire, regardless of how he got that money. "What are you suggesting?"

Vlad crossed his arms. "I give you what equipment I have here, which is precisely the reason you _came_ all this way to begin with. I can also provide technology _and_ funding for this defense force you've mentioned. As you've suggested, throwing Daniel into the Ghost Zone is most likely a temporary solution at best. If he attacked Amity Park once, I would imagine that will be where he strikes upon his return."

I frowned as I considered the offer. On the one hand, Vlad freely admitted to having been a real manipulative jerk; but on the other hand, he did seem to be genuine in his regret, and he _did_ have a considerable amount of financial clout. Grudgingly, I dug my phone out and handed it to the billionaire. "Fine, but you'd better remember I'm _really_ ticked off at you, Vlad Masters."

"I shall make a note of it." The billionaire smirked, dialing some numbers into the phone and then apparently getting to an automated system, given the continued number-punching. Gotta love banking-by-phone, I guess. "You say that Axion Labs is making your weapons and equipment now?"

I nodded confirmation while Vlad continued to wade through the automated banking system. Aside from the circumstances, it _was_ amusing to see how much hold music could apparently annoy even a self-described villain. He was hobbling back and forth with a thoroughly annoyed expression by the time he got ahold of a real live person. It took several more minutes of boring banking details before he was done. I think my jaw came unhinged at the amount of money he was having the bank transfer, not to Axion, but to _me_ directly. He caught my open-mouthed stare and grinned wickedly.

"You see, my dear, I _was_ putting in a takeover bid on Axion prior to... events." Vlad explained, apparently bemused. "I doubt they will be willing to accept such a sizable donation from _me_. But if the funding comes via the heralded _savior_ of Amity Park, well, how can they refuse?"

I remembered finally to shut my mouth. Somehow, the idea of one man possessing billions of dollars is almost a mythical concept. At least, until you see one almost casually toss _several hundred million_ dollars your way just because he could. "Let me get this straight... you just made _me_ a multi-millionaire like it's nothing, just because a company you tried to buy out might not take it from you-"

"Yes, that _is_ the general idea. I assume you'll use the money far more wisely than I have."  Vlad was already dialing some other number on my phone, and beckoning me to follow him to a ruined room adjacent to the old lab while he issued several orders to whoever he was on the phone with.

I surprised myself, being able to pass through that room again without breaking down in tears a second time. True, I felt my gaze drawn with laser-precision toward that stained section of wall, and felt the tears of my still-fresh grief threatening to spill over, but I was able to function, to keep walking. I guess the cloud of confusion left by Dan- by Phantom's rampage was lifted now that I knew the truth of things, and I could see clearly. True, the knowing was painful, and will always be painful. But now, now I could shut away the feelings of affection I had for Danny that had hindered me before. Danny, I couldn't hate, couldn't fight. This monster, Phantom though, I _could_ **hate** him. I could hate him with every fiber of my being, and desire nothing but his absolute annihilation. Like Paulina before, I could now take the role of the avenging lover. My friend had not turned on me, he had been _slain_ , quite literally, by his own inner demons. Now it wasn't fighting a friend turned traitor, now it was straightforward revenge. Revenge for the deaths in Amity Park, revenge for the destruction, and most importantly, revenge for my father's grievous injuries and now for Danny's murder.

Those dark thoughts flitting through my mind, we came upon the second room, apparently what had been a storage room adjacent to the lab. The ceiling here was mostly intact, with only a few sections fallen in, smashing anything beneath those massive slabs. I stood in the doorway as Vlad picked through the scattered devices, making a clumsy pile of items that he stacked on top of one of the fallen ceiling panels. I recognized many of them to be new weapons, several varieties of guns, throwing weapons, and so on. The billionaire heaved a silver pack onto the pile before turning toward one of the collapsed areas, studying the wreckage with a critical eye.

"Valerie, would you be so kind as to assist an old man?" Vlad gestured at the mess. "I need to shift some of this to get to a new jet sled."

"Fine." I grumbled, walking into the dim gloom of the chamber, studying the heap as well. I was moderately surprised to see the exo-skeleton Danny had stolen during the ghost invasion in the mess. The device was partly crushed by a slab of the ceiling, but it appeared that it had prevented the collapse from crushing the board underneath the weight. "How the heck did the Fentons' suit get here-?" I asked before I stopped and shot an accusing look at Vlad as we took up positions to lever the ceiling off the board.

"Ah, yes, you've caught me out once again, my dear." Vlad gestured at the thing. "You see, I stole it for myself after Daniel used it rather spectacularly to stop Pariah Dark, the ghost king. I'm sure if you had _seen_ what the boy was capable of with the suit boosting his powers, you would have desired it yourself. I _was_ going to modify it to correct the very nearly fatal flaw in its interface and power system, but as you might guess, I didn't get a chance. It's no more than scrap now, unfortunately."

I pondered on that while we both worked at getting the jet sled unburied. It really was a shame the exo-skeleton was damaged beyond repair. It would have been a desperately useful weapon against Phantom. But even I could see that the contraption was smashed beyond any hope of use as the ceiling slab was gradually shifted off of it. Once the wreckage was clear, I tugged the jet sled free, surprised at how lightweight the device was. Sure, my original sled didn't weigh much, but this slick new model weighed even less.

"This one doesn't have the built on missile hardpoints or blasters, but I believe you should be quite pleased with it's speed and mobility." Vlad plucked a small wristband from the rubble and handed it to me. "I would suggest you let Axion use your old one as a basis for production however. This is the only new one I have, and it would be a terrible shame for it to get broken by engineers."

I nodded slightly as I began to pack up the new arsenal. "And what are _you_ gonna be doing while _I'm_ cleaning up your mess?"

Vlad looked thoughtful for a moment, considering his answer. "I suppose that the safest thing for me to do is move to Amity Park. Daniel bears no good will toward me, and I'm quite badly vulnerable here." I cringed at the idea of the creepy billionaire moving under the protection of my task force, but he continued. "But I think I shall opt to remain here. I fear I will not be well-received, a sentiment I have rather earned. I need to think at length on my actions."

"And what are you gonna do if Phantom shows up to finish the job he started?" I glared, jamming the last of the guns into a large pack.

"That is the trick, isn't it?" Vlad looked thoughtful. "While he is the fusion of Daniel's ghost half and mine, I don't believe his memory from my ghost half is complete, and that his memories are primarily those of Daniel."

I raised an eyebrow at that, slipping my new battle suit on over my clothes. "What makes you say that?"

"Simply put, if he did have any substantial portion of my memory from my ghost half, I don't think we would be having this conversation right now. He would have already found his way to _my_ Ghost Zone portal, and as you put it, finish the job. It is very well disguised in the Ghost Zone, you would have to know exactly where it is to find it."

Somehow, I couldn't bring myself to be surprised at the revelation that Masters had a portal as well. I guess after all the revelations of the day, this newest one simply failed to meet the high standards already established. "If you say so." I slung the pack full of weapons over my shoulder as I stepped aboard the new jet sled. "Keep the phone. Hopefully I _won't_ need to talk to _you_ again."

I blasted into the sky through one of the gaps in the ceiling, leaving the billionaire coughing in a cloud of disturbed dust. I know I was being rude and irrational to some extent, but now I knew he'd been using me... can you honestly blame me for not having any fond sentiments for the man? Besides, I had an uneasy feeling, having been away from home now for a number of days. Maybe I was homesick, or maybe I had some sort of flash of intuition telling me to get home, and quickly. Either way, I was itching to take to the open skies on my new sled and get away from the creepy billionaire.

Unease aside, I couldn't resist letting a few loose a few loud whoops of delight as I pushed my new ride to its upper speeds, twisting through intricate acrobatics that would have put my original sled to utter shame. That was one thing I truly loved in of itself- the wind in my face, the freedom to tell gravity where it could go and just fly. As I covered the long distance between Vlad's castle and Amity Park, even that simple thrill was tinged now by the emotions I was going over and shuttering away. Did Danny enjoy being able to fly? Since he was part-ghost, he didn't even need technology to slip free of Newtonian physics. I always had my sled firmly under my feet when flying, what an incredible feeling it had to be to zip through the air like something out of a kid's fairy tale!

My thoughts slammed back to Amity Park and that monster when I was at least an hour's  flight from home. Smoke in the sky, visible from my altitude at least a hundred miles away. _I told Dad to call me if-_ I slapped my forehead. Vlad Masters had my phone. I had no way to know how long things had been happening- even with the new sled, it was still at _least_ three days solid flying to get to Amity Park from Wisconsin. The battle could have started any time since I left Vlad's castle. The Patrol could have been trying to contact me, and only gotten some creepy old man on the phone.

I crouched low to my sled, urging the device to surpass its already impressive speed. "Go faster! Go **_faster_** -!" I pleaded, reaching into the backpack and grabbing two of the new guns, the weapons uncompacting into a pair of impressive ecto-blasters.

My knot of worry only tightened the closer I got. There was so much smoke, and at a distance of roughly 50 miles away, I was able to see the brightest flashes of green and red energy, most likely only a minute fraction of the total amount of firepower being flung around. At that distance, the light show was almost beautiful. If not for the knowledge that people I knew, people under _my_ protection were in the thick of that, I could almost have enjoyed the fireworks. As it was, I was ignoring a chill sweat that was seeping slightly into my clothing beneath my new battle suit, nearly sick worrying about my dad's safety.

At ten miles away, I could see the damage clearly, but I had to sigh with relief when I saw the brilliant green dome of the FentonWorks Ghost Shield, obviously at maximum power and covering at least three or four square miles of the town. At least people had someplace to take cover. But the closer I got, the more appalling the damage became. I was surprised to see _military_ vehicles below, humvees and tanks, trucks and artillery. And _all_ of it in smoldering ruin. This had to have been going on for at least two days if the military had mobilized. I forced myself to keep my stomach from protesting- even from my altitude the foul stench from below was sickening, a sort of coppery, acrid scent wafting warm and sticky towards the sky.

As the final miles ticked down, I steeled my nerves and readied my weapons. My thoughts about Danny, my youthful affection well-buried, replaced by a hatred burning white-hot within me now. He would _pay_ for everything he'd done. I stayed high in the air, scanning the chaos below me, seeking out the enemy, looking for my target, my prey. A few hundred feet away from the boundary of the green shield, I found him.

He had changed a little in the intervening almost two years since I'd blasted him into the Ghost Zone. He was taller now, and while he was still quite lanky, his shoulders were a little broader, the faint outlines of increased muscle mass visible through the tight fit of his jumpsuit. In addition to the flaming upsweep of his hair, some of that white mass was pulled back into a short ponytail at the nape of his neck. My face twisted into a scowl when I saw the familiar icon in the center of his chest, a mockery now of everything Danny had fought for. He looked up then, and my gaze met his.

I snarled a curse and aimed my weapons, firing twin pink blasts down at the ghost. He smiled wickedly, showing those gleaming fangs of his, and launched into the air himself, neatly avoiding the blasts, letting himself be boosted skyward by the shockwave of the explosion. He floated level with me, some fifty feet off, arms crossed and smirking. "I was wondering when you'd show up, Valerie." He sneered as he studied me, head tipped slightly to one side.

I didn't waste the moment, drawing a bead on Phantom with both my guns. "When I'm through with you, you'll **wish** you _could_ die, ghost!" I shrieked, launching a volley of the powerful blasts. A couple of them did strike their target, sending the monster reeling for a brief moment before he corrected his trajectory, his smug expression now turned to an angry scowl.

"So that cheesehead enemy of mine _survived_ after all?" He growled, a low, guttural sound that sent an involuntary chill up my spine. "When I'm through with _you_ and your little friends, I'll have to remedy that error."

I raised an eyebrow. "My friends-?"

I really ought to have known, honestly. I was interrupted by a loud shout from below, and the sky filled with green and red fire.

"Let's shoot his eyes out!" I heard Paulina's voice over the din. "Get him!"

I shot out of the way of a few errant blasts and risked a glance down. Paulina was leading a squad of the Patrol, all wearing the new uniform of the task force- matching orange and black jumpsuits with a multitude of belts for carrying weapons and ghost-fighting tools on. As I dove down to ground level and past the group, I slowed enough to hastily salute them as I tossed several of the devices from my backpack to the ground.

"You made it back!" I heard one of the hunters shout as I shot past.

"Cover me!" I replied, my jet sled arcing skyward to pursue Phantom.

I didn't hear the reply, but I knew my orders must have been heard as the focus of the blasts shifted from the ghost to covering my flight, protecting my flanks with the high powered energy beams. Phantom snarled, ducking and weaving through the mess of ecto-beams, his attention apparently focused again on me.

"This time this _will_ be finished." He stated flatly, firing brilliant green streams of ectoplasmic energy at me. "You don't have a portal handy to throw me into this time!"

"You got that right, Phantom!" I snarled, my sled flitting nimbly around his blasts. "It's gonna get finished alright!"

It was his turn to dodge as I shot past him, planting a gleaming pink blast from my gun into the side of his head. The blast missed him for the most part unfortunately, barely scuffing his face. I spun back around as my momentum carried me well out of range of an instant counterattack. He smiled at me across that distance, but the hate was clear in his eyes.

"Well, well. You've gotten your old spunk back." He shrugged, a motion that for a moment reminded me most painfully of Danny at his most abashed. "Reminds you of the old days, doesn't it? The battles on the way to school..."

"Shut UP!" I shrieked, punctuating the command with a blast from one of my guns. "Danny's dead because of you, and I won't rest until I _tear you **apart** **!**_ "

"Will that be limb-from-limb or molecule-by-molecule?" He taunted, dodging the hail of blasts and taking a swing that hit my shoulder and sent me flying off my new sled with a yelp. He grabbed the sled, effectively preventing it from being able to catch me.

"Valerie-!" I heard Paulina's startled cry as I plummeted.

I was high on the adrenaline, I think. Despite the hatred, my anger and thirst for revenge, I think in a sick and twisted way I was _enjoying_ the battle. The challenge of throwing everything and more at a mortal enemy, a kind of thrill that you get only when your life is in serious danger. I ignored the wind howling past my ears as I fell, I smirked up at the ghost. He raised an eyebrow in mild confusion, secure in the knowledge that while he held my sled immobile, I had no way to break my fall and would momentarily be little more than a red splotch on the unforgiving ground below.

Wordlessly, I clacked my heels together, hearing the mechanism click as my old jet sled unfolded from the hidden compartments in my shoes. My fall stopped, I returned fire, with one shot catching the ghost's wrist. With an angry and slightly pained cry, he let go of my new sled, and I slapped the button on my wristband to recall it. With a pleasing roar of engines, the slick new board shot toward me, and I leapt back onto it as it shot by. The old one fell to a rooftop somewhere, forgotten for the moment.

"I swear, when I find that cheesehead, I am going to tear Vlad into more pieces than I did my _useless_ human self!" Phantom howled with anger, launching himself at me again. He was caught up short in the attack by several well-aimed blasts from below.

"Well just remember that you're _part_ -cheesehead too, ghost!" I snarled, leaping at him with energy charged into the gloves of my new suit. He was startled enough by the surprise maneuver that I was able to land a flurry of solid punches to his face and midsection before gravity caught up with my wild aerial antics and I had to call my sled back to catch me.

He snarled again, launching an extremely rapid blast at me. I ducked out of the way barely, wrinkling my nose slightly as the brief stink of scorched hair, and I knew then that he had very nearly gotten me. Well, I had been thinking of cutting my hair anyway, he just saved me some of the trouble. I was pleased to notice the squad below had scattered wide, in a way slightly reminiscent of the tactics we used to fight Phantom before. Lances of green or red fire shot skyward at the ghost regularly, and he was forced to divide his attention between my aggressive attack and the more subtle fire support from below.

Danny's rampant messed-up ghost half had grown a _lot_ more powerful since I'd first driven him into the Ghost Zone. But while he was busy fighting the patrol, civilians caught in the battle zone could make a break for the safety of the FentonWorks shield. I wasn't sure yet what we would do beyond that- we couldn't hide beneath that shield forever, it simply wasn't large enough. The spook was right in that we had no portal we could drive him through- nobody had attempted to fix the Fentons' portal after I'd broken it in the first fight.

 _First things first. Stalling him and hopefully weakening him enough to drive him away!_ I told myself, barreling hard to the right to avoid a volley of green blasts, strafing Phantom as I circled wide. I was too far off, he was able to raise a shield to deflect my blows, but while he was distracted, a small energy beam caught him square in his unshielded rear. He yelped almost comically, both hands flying to his scorched backside as he spun to find who shot him.

Two men in white suits stood pointing bizarre ecto-guns skyward, their expressions stoic behind dark sunglasses. They certainly weren't part of my task force, but they looked vaguely familiar. Phantom apparently forgot about me for the moment as he shot down toward the ground, avoiding further blasts from the two men. "Well, here I thought I'd already swatted all the government bugs." The ghost sneered, firing a blast that knocked one of the two agents flat, marring the man's suit with filth.

"Multiple sanitary breeches in back sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha, leg sectors  SO1 pi theta 23 and lambda epsilon 42-" The downed agent recited as he staggered back to his feet.

I very nearly fell over as it dawned on me. The government's supposedly top-secret anti-ghost team, Guys in White. Supposedly top secret, but everybody knew about them. I cupped one hand to my mouth and shouted at the two idiots. "Get outta here! If you think you can fight him like that, yer toast!"

"We are professional-" The still-spotless agent began to retort, not getting a chance to yelp or cry out before the ghost was in his face, a shimmering blast of green energies detonating inches from his shades.

I cringed at the gruesome display as the dirtied agent started to scramble away, his glasses askew, revealing wide, panicked eyes. They'd never seen real spectral combat, obviously. "L-leak valve failure in abdominal s-sector omega 455-"

I opened fire at the ghost, distracting Phantom from the useless agent. "You forget about me, ghost?" I sneered as I blazed right over his head, the wake of my aerial pass briefly flattening the white flames of the ghost's hair.

"Feh. I guess I'll deal with _you_ later." Phantom snarled at the terrified government agent before he lifted into the air to chase me, a rapid burst of energy blasts preceeding him. I risked a glance back and sighed with relief to see the agent scrambling away from what was left of his companion, making all speed for the safety of the shield. I was also relieved to see that there weren't many people besides my task force outside the shield. Granted, they'd been under attack for at least two days, possibly three; but still, it was one of the few positive things in a situation that otherwise reeked.

Quite literally, too. I will _never_ be able to think back on those days without smelling that foul odor as though I was back on that battlefield. The destruction was more widespread, Phantom having had more time to rampage, and there were plenty of corpses, or the twisted wrecks of them at least. As with before, the final toll was never fully known; all anyone could say with any certainty was that more people were killed than in the ghost's initial rampage. Phantom had spared no one his wrath. I saw the still forms of permanently silenced Patrol members, of businessmen and women, housewives and students. And children, oh god, the little kids, tiny faces frozen in horror and agony, pristine above the terrible wounds that had stolen away their lives- limbs ripped away leaving jagged stumps, great red gashes and gelatinous gobs of unidentifiable entrails. And covering it all like a filthy blanket was that coppery, oily stench, like spoiled meat left out too long, only slightly warmed by sunlight filtered red through the smoke. Needless to say, I have been unable to look at, let alone _eat_ any sort of meat product since- just the _thought_ of it makes me queasy despite all these years.

"This game can't go on forever, Valerie." Phantom smiled coldly as we clashed midair, a chaotic dance of attack and evade. "You've got to wear down sometime. You're only _human_ after all."

"And _you're_ just a ghost." I retorted, managing to land several strikes from my guns. He did have a point though- my adrenaline would only be able to sustain me for so long. The fight was on a timer, and it was steadily ticking down. While the fire support from the Patrol was a welcome aid, the brunt of the battle fell truly to me, and me alone. In order to effectively battle a ghost, you have to be able to level the playing field, meaning you need an effective means of getting airborne. I had the only effective means to do that- I ducked an explosive sphere of ecto-energy, an idea coming to me. I took note of Phantom's position, tapping some buttons on the older of the two wristbands I had on.

"Yes, and I don't have to bother with silly problems of sustenance or sleep, or burdensome _feelings_ like kindness or heroism. I'm free to do what I want, while you're trapped by your silly concerns." Phantom smiled wickedly now, launching himself at me.

"Well I'd rather be trapped by my _silly_ concerns than be a psychotic ghost who's all _lonely_ and **bitter** about what he _lost_!" I snapped back. Sure, it was a low blow, but the ghost stopped in his tracks, his already fierce expression taking on an even more enraged edge.

"This isn't about _my_ problems, Valerie." His voice was deceptively smooth, silk covering the razor blade of his anger. "This is about _your_ problems. Namely the fact that you're _still breathing_."

I wasn't really listening to him, I was paying attention to a faint but familiar sound behind me, and the movement of the Patrol members on the ground below. Paulina really had become a very dedicated member of the Patrol, and the former cheerleader displayed an excellent knack for leading and directing others. She had seen what I was up to, and was ordering everyone into position, anticipating my ploy.

Phantom resumed his lunge at me, glowing green fists ready to slam into my body, to tear me apart. I smiled, knowing my own expression was a wicked, merciless glare to match his, and deactivated my sled, letting gravity pull me out of harm's way. The ploy worked, the timing was impeccable. He never saw what was _behind_ me until my old jet sled slammed into his face at full speed, the small blasters on it firing directly into his face repeatedly, briefly blinding and disorienting him. Wasting no time, I added a full volley from my two guns even as I fell and restarted my new jet sled. I heard Paulina and other squad leaders bark out a firing order, and my two-gun barrage was joined by a veritable fireworks display of expertly aimed blasts from every ecto-weapon conceivable. Plasma beams, lasers, ectoplasm-coated bullets, ecto-grenades, ghost-seeking shuriken, lightning guns, shock nets... you name it, somebody was shooting it. Like a green and red pyramid, the barrage rose skyward from dozens of places spread throughout the immediate area, with Phantom at the apex as it all slammed home, ripping into him. In seconds, the ghost was lost in the plume of explosions and smoke.

"Cease fire!" I shouted, the order quickly relayed as the fire died down and shortly ceased. I stood on my sled, both weapons ready, checking my radar and watching the smoke cloud for signs of ambush. The cloud of smoke soon dispersed, joining the general haze hanging over the city, with no sign of the ghost. I dared to hope as I heard nothing from the radar. I didn't even consider the possibility that we'd actually destroyed Phantom, but I began to hope that perhaps even he had been maimed by that mass barrage, and had fled to nurse his wounds.

Several tense minutes passed, the only sound audible was the drone of my jet sled and the occasional crack and clatter of slowly settling debris. Still, my radar remained silent, and no ambush came. We had done it. The Patrol had taken its share of loses, and hadn't been able to save everyone, but we'd probably saved hundreds if not thousands of lives. We'd managed to do the almost unthinkable, we fought that ghost. We may not have won, but we certainly hadn't lost. I landed my sled, the nearest members of the Patrol all rushing over as I gave the all-clear.

For a moment we all just stood there in the middle of that battlefield, taking mental note of who made it and who was missing, who was hurt and how badly. Then we all burst into excited babbling.

"Ohmigosh, Valerie, you did it!"

"You guys did great! That last attack tore that spook a new one!"

"Awesome idea using two jet boards!"

"Did you see the look on his face when that hit him?"

Overcome with relief, we all started laughing. Not the relieved laughter of friends having fun, but the slightly crazed laughter of soldiers. We were laughing not because we were truly relieved, but because if we didn't laugh, we probably would have been screaming. We had won the battle though it had cost us all dearly, but we all knew that the war was _far_ from over.


	9. The Great Fortress

**The Great Fortress**  
"This is for the ones who stood their ground  
For Tommy and Gina who never backed down  
Tomorrow’s getting harder make no mistake  
Luck ain’t even lucky  
Got to make your own breaks"  
_-"It's My Life" - Bon Jovi_

Who would have thought I'd almost immediately find a good use for all that money Masters gave me? No sooner was everyone crammed tightly underneath the green dome of the shield than we were having a massive town meeting to determine what to do next. For me, the answer was obvious- we _required_ a massive shield if we wanted to be able to protect the city and the people in it. Needless to say however, such an undertaking would require a massive amount of planning, funding, and cooperation. Despite the attack, people were loathe to give up their homes, or what remained of them in some cases.

"Axion can reproduce the Fentons' technology." I addressed the crowd, growing more exasperated. "Yes, the Patrol can probably fight off that ghost if he shows up again. But not without causing a ton of damage! We _need_ a larger shield to protect ourselves!"

"But what about us? You can't expect us to just give up our homes!" I shot Mrs. Manson a dark look at her remark. Their daughter's death had aged Mr. and Mrs. Manson badly over the past two years, but they still clung to some perceived status. It was probably all they really had left.

"And where will you be the next time that ghost attacks and _your_ home happens to be destroyed?" I retorted, leveling a stern look at the woman. I'm sure I made an imposing sight standing in front of the podium in my red hunting suit and gear, with several orange-clad members of the patrol behind me. "Look, I'll make sure you're compensated plenty for the loss, kay?"

It was the mayor's turn to stammer a protest. "Miss Grey, we can't afford to buy out enough people to build this proposed shield! Where will Axion Labs get the funding to build it?"

I growled. " **I'll** _handle_ it! You people want to be safe from ghosts, but you aren't willing to take the steps necessary? Honestly!"

As I stormed off, I grabbed my new phone and dialed Axion Labs, telling them to go ahead with the shield designs. Next I was calling the bank to get an accurate statement of my account so I could begin figuring out how much I had available to bribe these idiots to give up their houses. It's hard to imagine that just two or three years ago, the idea of having millions to sling around on designer clothes and other luxuries would have been a dream come true for me and many of the people I used to hang around. Now I saw the money as just a utility, just another tool with which I could fight ghosts.

Thankfully, Phantom stayed away for the time being. With the money Vlad gave me, I bought the land needed from the original owners, a ring of thirty-four sites some twenty miles in diameter. That alone ate through a substantial chunk of the money the billionaire had given me originally, but I was both irked and pleased to discover my bank account was receiving regular transfusions of funding from Wisconsin. Axion's scientists in turn put the funding to good use, designing flying vehicles based on my jet sled's technology and newer and more powerful ghost-hunting weapons.

The single greatest project though was the anti-ghost shield to protect the city, quite possibly the largest technological undertaking the world had seen. Construction began at all of the sites at once, all the necessary grading and paving. The shield would utterly dwarf the FentonWorks shield by several orders of magnitude. The green dome, even at full power, cast a shield that could only cover about five square miles and rise maybe ten stories into the sky. This shield, when complete, would encircle a sizeable portion of Amity Park, roughly sixty times the size of the FentonWorks shield, and rise at least eighty stories into the air.

One by one the shield towers were being assembled, each one of the thirty-four towers an impressive piece of engineering by itself. At the time, the huge towers loomed over the tallest buildings in the city center, but it was necessary in order to generate a functional shield on such a scale. People complained, calling them eyesores, questioning why we needed them when we had the Patrol, and so on. Amusingly enough, Vlad Masters must have anticipated the outcry, because _he_ provided a ready solution to scare the civilian population into agreement.

I was flying a patrol, far into the devastated zone. Only a handful of the Patrol members had learned the fine art of riding a gravity-defying surfboard, and so I volunteered to take the longest flight. After all, I had the fastest jet sled and the most practice, so it made enough sense. I was the farthest away from civilization, with my communication gadget being my only link to the nearest Patrol members, miles away from my location.

Probably a good thing too, because when I dodged an energy blast, only to get yanked off my feet by a glowing blue energy net, there would have been a huge and heavily armed reaction from the Patrol.

"Hey!" I shouted indignantly, the sound largely drowned out by the loud whine of a jet engine behind me. The ghost radar I had with me was beeping loudly, and for an instant I expected to be blasted by Phantom.

" _This_ is the hunter girl we're supposed to talk to?" A high, irritating voice asked from behind me as the net slowly descended toward the ground.

"If you don't put me down _this instant_ -" I started to threaten, already aiming a small ecto-blaster hidden in my suit at whatever was behind me. To my mild surprise, the net fell away and vanished as soon as it hit the ground, and I jumped to my feet and spun to confront my attacker.

"You _will_ be worthy prey." A second voice stated, gravelly and oddly familiar, the tone sounding both pleased and admiring. "After we've dealt with the ghost-child."

I lowered my guns as I finally recognized the ghost. It was that big hunter ghost I'd spoken to years ago about finding Danny. His armor had changed drastically, mohawk and goatee traded now for a flaming green aura around his metal plated head, the steel now a blackened color instead of the dull silver it had been when we'd last met. The creepy thing was the heavy armoring on his chest- all dark save for a round green window with a second face in it.

" _You_?!" I demanded, waving my gun at the big ghost in an accusing manner. "How did you get back here?! The Fentons' portal is busted!"

"Did you forget that there's _another_ portal?" That second face, the one with the annoying voice taunted.

"As part of an _arrangement_ -" The big ghost- Skulker was his name if I recall right, interrupted. "-we're supposed to help stage an attack."

I admit, I flat-out stared in disbelief at the big ghost... or ghosts? I dunno. "Stage an attack? What the heck for?"

"Eh... it's payment to Plasmius for all this fancy technology!" The chest-face griped.

Skulker heaved a huge sigh at the admission. "Indeed. We have decided to cooperate to destroy the ghost-child."

"Because he totally-" The chest-face paused, obviously contemplating his words in a way that very distantly reminded me of whenever Mr. Lancer had tried to sound 'hip' and up on the slang used by the students. "-owned our heinies!"

Despite staring down a big heavily armed ghost duo, I found myself raising an eyebrow at the chest-face. "... And just who the heck are _YOU_? Him-" I gestured up at the hunter's face. "-I recognize. You're new."

Skulker rolled his eyes and slapped his forehead, an impressive feat considering his eyes had no pupils to speak of. The chest-face puffed up at my question, apparently all too pleased to answer.

"I am Technus 7.0! Ghostly master of science and all things electronic! Technological terror, commander of circuitry, overlord of uploads-"

"And the operating system of my new battle suit." Skulker interrupted, thankfully bringing the chest-face's tirade to a halt before it could really gain steam.

"And that too." Technus' face visibly sulked. Obviously their alliance must have been borne of desperation. I could only imagine what Phantom must have done in the ghosts' world to prompt it.

"Okay, okay. But what's this staging an attack? And was the _net_ really necessary?" I growled, growing impatient with the pair.

"Plasmius-" Skulker paused, interrupting himself. "Hm. I suppose that name no longer truly applies. Vlad Masters then. He assumed that there would be resistance to whatever you're doing here."

"And in return for the suit, wants us to fly _all_ the way from _Wisconsin_ , talk to you, and set up a fake attack so people will be frightened into cooperation." Technus finished the explanation.

I let my other eyebrow fly upward to match the first in a stunned expression. How the _heck_ had Vlad known that I was trying to get Amity Park under the protection of a huge anti-ghost shield? Or that people were annoyed about the personal sacrifices they needed to make for their own safety? It had been two years since Phantom's last rampage, and reconstruction _still_ hadn't gotten underway in the demolished region!

Still, this _was_ an excellent opportunity. I didn't like Vlad, and I didn't like ghosts, but I would be a fool to pass up the opportunity. Grudgingly, I put away my guns and recalled my jet sled. "Alright, let's talk."

The plan was pretty simple in the end. We would play out the "attack" as a high-speed chase through the inhabited parts of the city. Lots of banter, high-risk aerial stunts, shots exchanged in the sky. For affect, I reluctantly permitted the conjoined ghosts to cause some minor damage, provided no one got hurt and it was only cosmetic. Once we had the attention of a majority of the population, I would chase the duo out into the demolished zone, there'd be lots of shots into the sky and aerial stunts for effect, and I would "defeat" the ghost, whereupon Skulker and Technus would disappear and return to the Ghost Zone of their own free will. Apparently Skulker at least was eager to return to that freaky reality. Something about an all-out war and a massive ghost alliance to take down Phantom. I remember being mildly amused at the idea.

The meeting did raise a new concern, as well. Danny had told me back when Skulker had dragged us both into the Ghost Zone that the doors there sometimes linked to the real world. And Vlad had his portal, meaning ghosts could get into the real world. With the Fenton Portal broken, the Patrol had no way to really get rid of any ghosts that might show up. It seemed to me too risky to try and bottle a ghost into one of those thermos devices I had, and then have to send it all the way to Vlad for disposal. Much as I didn't want to, I realized it might not be a bad idea to call the billionaire and find out if he could fix the thing.

Mind you, while I was pondering these things, I was in the middle of the aforementioned chase. The rest of the Patrol rallied as soon as the first shots were fired, and they joined the pursuit. I am ashamed to confess that despite four years of training, the hunter ghost was able to easily elude or disable the bulk of them. It was startling the contrast in how this ghost did battle and Phantom's rampages. The hunter was quite cunning, out maneuvering and outwitting his pursuers, whereas Phantom had simply used sheer brute force to subdue his opponents.

The ghost passed through the skeletal structure of one of the incomplete shield towers and I poured on the speed, leaving the rest of the Patrol behind and under orders to ensure the safety of the startled masses while I 'took care' of the ghost. The ruse had already gotten stunning results, and I grudgingly admitted to myself that the brute was a pretty good actor who _knew_ how to work his audience. Most anyone would be badly frightened by a heavily armed and armored brute just appearing through the wall, and he'd passed through several apartment buildings and offices just like that for little reason other than to spook the daylights out of the occupants.

Once we were down out of sight behind the ruins from Phantom's second rampage, we both landed, occasionally firing weapons into the air to lend the appearance of an ongoing fight. The ghost gave me a steely grin while the one in his chest just giggled maniacally.

"That should be enough to make people agree to your plan." The hunter stated with a simple nod.

"Did you see the way those girls in that gym locker room reacted?" Technus giggled, a sound that I had rapidly begun to find tiresome. "They were shocked and awed by the power of Technus-!"

"Shut UP already!"

Skulker and I exchanged matching looks of exasperation at the geek ghost. "Hey, before you go, you think Vlad would be able to... say, fix a broken ghost portal?" I asked, trying to tune out the giggling from the hunter's chest.

"Of course. _I_ could probably do it myself." The big ghost crossed his huge arms, thankfully muffling Technus.

"Eh, no thanks." Sure, I had worked with the ghosts on that staged attack, but I didn't trust the things to work on delicate equipment in the heart of the Patrol's headquarters! "I guess I'll give him a call then."

"Indeed." A large jetpack sprang from the ghost's back, the engine spinning up with an increasing whine. "Now, back to the hunt!"

As the conjoined ghosts shot off into the sky, I cupped one hand to my mouth and shouted. "Good luck against Phantom!"

I doubt they heard me, and I returned to FentonWorks after lightly scuffing myself up on the debris to lend a little more credibility to the idea that I'd just been in a serious fight with a ghost. A crowd had already gathered outside the building, as word had rapidly spread about the "battle" and that many members of the Patrol had been easily beaten, leaving me once again the hero of the hour. I tuned out the questions and cheers drifting up from the street as I flew right into an upper window, expertly angling my sled through the tight confines of the house and to the basement, where I gave my father the complete debriefing on what had happened.

Only after he and I had quietly gone over the details did we give the news and the waiting crowd the version of the story we agreed to. The ghost attacked the city, but was repelled- _barely_ \- by the patrol, and that we were all _very_ fortunate that there hadn't been a great deal more damage than there was, and no serious injuries! Needless to say, when I reiterated the need for the shield, very few people were willing to contest what their perceived savior thought was necessary.

My phone rang later that evening, and I casually picked it up, expecting it to be a call from Axion about something or other. I almost dropped the phone in surprise and annoyance when I heard the voice on the other end of the line.

"I see my plan worked beautifully. Tell me, how goes progress on this shield project of yours, my dear?"

"Vlad Masters?!" I reflexively hissed into the speaker. "How did you know about all that?!"

The billionaire chuckled softly at my agitation. I suppose he never would quite completely ditch old super villain habits. "Really, Valerie, think about it. When you were hunting Daniel, did you honestly think that all your equipment was designed for was simply for shooting him?"

My eyes widened as the realization slapped me upside the head. "You've been _spying_ on me all this time?!"

"Not intentionally. I originally intended for your equipment to help me gather information on Daniel and his abilities for... a pet project, you could say. One that never was able to come to fruition. The fact I ended up discovering what you were up to was _merely_ an accident." Vlad responded smoothly.

"'Accident' my foot." I muttered. "So let me guess, you know I want to get the Fenton Portal repaired, right?"

"Indeed." I swear I could almost _hear_ the old man smirking over the phone line. "When would be a good time?"

I muttered an impolite phrase to the effect of "As soon as possible." and hung up on the man, retreating to my bedroom to get some rest. It was kinda eerie living in what had been Danny's home. My dad had taken the master bedroom, while I had moved into what used to be Jazz's room. Danny's old bedroom was bigger, but I could hardly bring myself to look at the door to that empty room, let alone entertain the thought of sleeping there.

I didn't sleep much ever since I had first chased Danny off. For one, I had become a very light sleeper, waking quickly to slight noises, a sense of paranoia growing ever sharper over the years. Also, when I was awake, I could push the memories from thought, and focus on my duties as a professional ghost hunter. When I slept, those memories would ceaselessly taunt me in nightmare. A dream that might start out pleasantly enough about a day at school or lunch at the Nasty Burger would melt away into devastation and fire, the lovable Danny in my dreams morphing into the nightmare his ghost-self had become. In those nightmares, I witnessed Amity Park's destruction a thousand times over; the death of everyone I knew or cared for; even my own violent ending. Well, those nightmares ended up correct on two out of three counts, though the reality was far worse than any subconscious nightmare.

It was almost five years to the day after Phantom's first rampage that the last of the thirty-four shield towers was completed. The shield was actually built to be redundant: the complete dome could be generated with as few as twenty of the towers activated. The city watched in awe as the system went live for its first test activation, the massive blue dome spreading skyward with a crackle of power, encasing a sizeable portion of the city within the massive glowing bubble.

I warned people not to rebuild too far out from the shield's radius, but it seems that in a way, the plan to get their cooperation also backfired. Phantom was _gone_ , they reasoned. The Patrol had chased him away, they were overconfident that _if_ he returned, we could handle him. For me, and for the entire Patrol, it wasn't a question of **if** Phantom would return, it was a matter of _**when**_ he would return, and how much stronger he would be when he did. I quietly hoped that the ghost alliance that Skulker had mentioned might have put an end to Phantom, but I somehow knew that it was unlikely. At best, that effort likely only stalled the ghost, buying Amity Park just enough time to prepare the fortress. At that time, the shield was shut off, intended as a shelter to be turned on in an emergency, the silver towers standing silent against the sky.

Suffice to say, with so many people claiming that Phantom would never _dare_ show up again, it was practically a mob pounding on karma's door. He _would_ be back, I was sure of it. We were extremely lucky that he hadn't yet returned since the Patrol last drove him off three years ago. Such luck was bound to run out, and run out in a big way.

I hate it when I'm right.


	10. The Dead of Night

**The Dead of Night**  
"We’ve got to hold on ready or not  
You live for the fight when it’s all that you’ve got  
We’re half way there  
Livin’ on a prayer"  
_-"Livin' On a Prayer" - Bon Jovi_

It was a clear night. That was the first impression I had when the sirens started their high-pitched wailing in the dark of night. I was up and out the window on my jet sled easily within thirty seconds of the alarm. Most of the Patrol was, actually- it had become habit for everyone in the Patrol to sleep in their suits, weapons ready nearby.

"Shoot, he's back!" I hissed through clenched teeth, tapping my wristband. "Daddy, get the shield up!"

"On it." My father's voice replied through the communicator. "You'll have to hold him off long enough for everyone to evacuate!"

"Right. We'll handle him!" I glared daggers in the direction of the green explosions, each one more massive than anything I'd seen before. Already several buildings had fallen in the distance, and even from my vantage I could hear the screams of panic. I _knew_ they shouldn't have rebuilt so far from the safety of the shield! There could already be hundreds of casualties even in the brief time it took the Patrol to mobilize.

"What's the plan, Valerie?" Paulina jetted up alongside me, her squadron in tow.

"We've got to hold him off." I replied, raising my voice so that the other squad leaders could relay my orders. "We'll flank him. If we can destroy him, great; but we have to focus on _stalling_ him so that the civilians can get away."

"Look out!" Mikey shouted, swerving aside.

The rest of us scattered to avoid the huge green blast. The time for planning was over, now it was time for action.

"Isn't this quaint?" He sneered, floating above the wreckage of what had been an office building. "I remembered today was your 20th birthday, Valerie. I thought you'd like a _surprise_ party."

I said nothing in response, choosing instead to let my gun do the talking, loosing a pink barrage. Unsurprisingly, the shots all missed as Phantom easily floated out of the way, but he was knocked to the ground by a bazooka blast to the backside.

"You want to give Valerie your head?" Paulina shouted at the ghost, readying another blast. "Maybe _I_ wanted that for a present!"

"You think you can stop me?" Phantom sneered, avoiding more of my blasts, lobbing a green sphere at Paulina, who yelped and wheeled her sled out of the way.

Phantom had aged relatively well. He stood a great deal taller than he had when we'd last met, and had added a white and black cape to his outfit. He was still somewhat lanky, but it was a far cry from the twig Danny had been six years ago. I kept firing, ducking and dodging out of the way of the return fire, while other Patrol members darted into and out of the fray.

To my massive frustration though, Phantom seemed to hardly be paying the Patrol any mind. Most of our weapons hardly scratched him, while every green blast he launched detonated with deadly force.

"That little trick with your sled won't work a second time, Valerie." The ghost grinned, his face illuminated briefly by the green light of an explosion. "I've gotten a _lot_ stronger since our last battle. This time, there won't be _anything_ left of this stupid city. You _can't_ win. You never _could_."

"I don't have to _win_ , ghost." I finally retorted, throwing a pair of ecto-grenades at the ghost, followed by a volley of energy blasts.

"Mmm-hm, yes. So long as _I_ lose, right?" The ghost turned intangible, the grenades passing harmless through his translucent form.

Phantom sidestepped midair as a wordless shriek of rage sounded somewhere above and behind him, Paulina's attack missing entirely as she jetted past. Mikey and his squadron quickly dove in to intercept, preventing the ghost from countering Paulina's attack immediately. I risked a glance at the broken ground below and saw the crowds fleeing. The ghost shield had already activated in the distance; a brilliant blue bubble casting its light for miles, creating harsh shadows on the wreckage.

The ghost was hardly bothering to _look_ at the Patrol members he was easily dodging, his efforts being spent mostly on the people below. I saw one eyebrow lift over those maniac eyes, and he smirked. "Red _is_ your favorite color, isn't it?"

Phantom raised one hand, green energy crackling around it as he swung it in a wide arc. I shouted then, when the green arcing blast of energy sliced into a wall above the crowds. Phantom laughed as the ruined wall fell, almost in slow motion. The people fleeing that particular apartment building ran faster, but gravity won in the end, the mound of debris smashing down into the street, silencing the screams for just a moment.

I turned an enraged glare on the ghost. "You monster!"

"Why don't I paint the town red for you, Valerie?" Phantom grinned at me, delighting in his terrible pun.

"You'll pay for this you-!" I bristled, listening to the chatter over my comm device. I ducked aside as a pair of giant green energy blasts sent the ghost flying half a mile through the air before he could recover his balance.

Farther away from the battle zone circled the Patrol's most recent addition- artillery. Axion had combined technology from my jet sled and the Fentons' ghost weaponry to create flying tanks, heavily armed vehicles packing more firepower than the Fenton's long-destroyed RV. They took longer to mobilize, being larger and somewhat slower than the smaller sleds, but they now encircled the battlefield, lending their powerful fire support. Phantom's merriment changed immediately to that hateful frown as he whipped a blast at one of the big vehicles. The tank was too slow to get out of the way, detonating midair with a brilliant explosion, hot debris raining on the fleeing people below.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that." Phantom growled. "So you and that cheesehead are _still_ buddy-buddy? There's no way this dumpy town could afford an army."

"What's it to you, ghost?" I snapped, dashing at him with a pair of melee weapons Axion has designed, resembling a pair of small daggers.  It was pure madness to try and fight the ghost in hand-to-hand combat, but it would mean he would be too preoccupied to fire on the civilians below. So I thought, at least.

"You want to dance?" The ghost leered, blocking one of my weapons easily with his hand. "I suppose it's a good thing I can multitask then, isn't it?"

I gasped with surprise at the ghost's voice _behind_ me. I was sent flying as something stomped on the rear of my jet sled, catapulting me through the air and sending my sled tumbling away. Most people would probably seize up with panic at the idea of such a freefall, but I had actually become somewhat accustomed to it. I was the one who perfected the mid-air recall and drilled proper use of a jet sled into the rest of the Patrol, after all. Instead, I angled my body to fall to one side and avoid a blast the second ghost fired at me, and recalled my sled. With a roar of engines, my board whipped around and caught me before I could splatter against a building. Or get vaporized by one of those emerald blasts.

The sight that greeted me when I got back into the air made my heart skip a beat. I didn't know how, but where one Phantom had hovered there were now _four_ , each wearing an identical version of that crazed smile.  I heard cries of surprise echoing my own thoughts as the rest of the Patrol saw it. I didn't know ghosts could _do_ that! How many Phantoms could he split himself into? Were we going to have to taken on an entire _army_ of him?

The four ghosts scattered, leaving me to duel one of them while two engaged the rest of the Patrol, and one continued to rampage, destroying anything and everything in his way. I spat some colorful phrases I'd learned and sideslipped to avoid a fist that was coming right at my face. I spun on my sled, letting my momentum slam my lifted leg into Phantom's face. He fell back for a moment, lobbing a low-power green blast that knocked me off my sled- obviously a defensive move rather than an offensive move. I caught hold of the rear of my sled, heaving myself up to flip atop the silver surface while Phantom regained his balance and glared death at me.

 _Literally._ With eye beams.

My sled sliced higher into the air to avoid the blow, and I took advantage of the high ground to launch several blasts at the ghost I was fighting, as well as the two nearest clones. The crowds below seemed to finally be thinning, and I was surprised to see the sky beginning to brighten in the east. Just how long had this fight been going on? Dozens of fires were blazing unchecked, since fire crews could not respond while Amity Park remained quite literally a war zone. The damage was severe, an irregular march of destruction from outside the city to where the Patrol was presently engaged in combat.

"Don't think we don't have a few more tricks left, Phantom!" I hissed, leaping from my sled and bodily tackling the nearest one from above. Startled by the move, we both plummeted while I punched him repeatedly, driving my anti-ghost knives into his torso time and again, the weapons etching ugly green gashes across his chest.

"As do I." He smiled up at me, seemingly unfazed by the wounds. He simply vanished from under me, as if he had never even been there, and I fell faster with a shriek. Instinct served me well, I recalled my sled without even thinking to do so.

"Get away-!" I heard Paulina shriek, and jerked my head around to see the Latina trying to single-handedly take on one of the Phantom clones.

"What, I thought you used to _adore_ me-" The ghost leered at her before I put a gunshot into his head.

"Adore you?" Paulina spat as she was able to put some distance between herself and the ghost. "Who told you that? My only love is the ghost-boy!"

"Feh." Phantom steadied himself midair and I heard another building detonate somewhere near where the other two clones were still running loose. "I should have known you were so shallow, just a pretty face. I suppose I ought to _fix_ that, shouldn't I?"

"... Are you calling me shallow?" Paulina hissed, unslinging a second gun from her suit's shoulder straps. I have to admit, the former cheerleader made an imposing sight standing atop a jet sled in the form-fitting Patrol uniform, with a bazooka slung under each arm.

"Mm. Yes. I think _Sam_ said it best, didn't she?" Phantom mused midair, seemingly unfazed by the threat of dual-bazookas. "That I could stand in a puddle of you and _not_ get my feet wet."

I barked an order into my comm unit, and watched three of the tanks line up their massive double-turrets.

"I don't care what you _heard_ some dead goth girl say about me!" Paulina snapped. I cringed to myself. The loss had been sharpened and amplified by the loss of Danny as well, but Paulina was unaware of that. She didn't know what I knew about the entire situation. Paulina shouted something unfit for print, twin green blasts surging from her weapons.

"NOW!" I shouted into my comm. The tanks added their larger energy beams to Paulina's volley, and Phantom just... popped. Well, his clone did, at any rate, leaving two Phantoms still on a rampage.

"One down, two more to go!" Paulina crowed, jetting off to rejoin the battle.

I wheeled midair to do likewise, just in time to see a precision blast from one of the two Phantoms take out one of the engines on Mikey's sled, causing both to plummet toward the ground. The small squad leader shrieked as he fell, trying in vain to steer the out-of-control board to a relatively safe landing.

"How amusing." One of the two Phantoms stated, firing a large blast at a building looming above my comrade.

"Oh no-!" Mikey looked up and saw the debris falling, raising both hands to shield himself as several tons of steel and concrete plowed into him. I cringed when the mess slammed to earth, catching a few stragglers from the fleeing crowds as well.

Paulina and I both charged one of the two ghosts, Paulina ramming her sled straight into him, while I jumped from mine again, firing my gun with one hand, the other bearing one of my melee weapons. It was amusing, in a dark sort of way, that the Latina's preferred melee weapons were a set of energy-talons built into the gloves of her suit, a wicked parody of the perfectly manicured fingernails beneath the black material.

"If you weren't already _dead_ , I'd kill you!" I shrieked.

"I'll gouge his eyes out!" Paulina snarled, swiping the weapons at the ghost's face to make good on the threat.

I landed several shots and stabs before Phantom flung us both away, Paulina's sled spinning wildly out of control and dislodging her, while I got flung back and recalled my sled. I shot over to catch Paulina, even though her sled was already on its way back to catch her- she wasn't quite as good at the mid-air recall as I was. A green explosion engulfed Paulina's sled, and we exchanged brief looks before I had to dodge another blast.

"You shoot, I'll steer!" I told her, veering my sled in a wild sideways arc to slip past another blast.

"Right!" I saw a flurry of red bazooka blasts launch out the corner of one eye as Paulina fired at Phantom. The injured copy finally disappeared, leaving one Phantom wrecking havoc in the pre-dawn twilight. The crowds below had thinned, and I saw virtually no one running in the streets or over the rubble. I saw plenty of people who would likely never move again, and tried to shut the sight from my memory.

"Dad, how much longer? Nothing we're doing is _hurting_ him!" I yelled into my comm, watching Phantom get into the middle of a tank formation and start blasting. "We're taking heavy losses out here!"

"Just a little longer, Valerie!" My dad's voice replied, slightly garbled.

"Valerie, isn't he going to attack the Patrol when we retreat?" Paulina pointed out. "We're covering everyone's escape, right? Who's covering _ours_?"

I mouthed some choice words under my breath. She had a point. The sleds wouldn't be quite so vulnerable, but we'd mobilized the entire artillery division of the Patrol, and they _would_ be horribly open to attack from the rear. With what we'd seen of Phantom's behavior, he would most certainly seize advantage of that fact. I hated to admit it to myself, but we were utterly outmatched in this battle. I had no idea what he'd been doing since his last appearance to gain so much strength, but the fact was we had no real way of fighting him. The best we could do was distract him, and hide under a shield. A sobering thought.

"Dad." I called back to headquarters. "How much is a little longer? We're going to have to pull back the artillery first and cover the retreat with the infantry, or we're going to take serious losses while we retreat to the shield!"

"You certainly _are_ going to take losses." That voice whispered over the comm. "I like to think they'll be _total_ losses."

"YOU!?" I snarled at my wristband. Phantom must have lifted the comm unit off one of the Patrol members he'd taken out. I clenched a fist, spinning my sled so Paulina and I both had clear shots at the ghost. Needless to say, we both opened fire.

"Everyone is under the shield that can get here!" My dad exclaimed over the comm, his voice barely heard over the intense exchange of weapons fire. "I'm ordering the artillery to fall back now!"

"Got it." I responded tersely, blazing past Phantom and narrowly avoiding one of his massive energy blasts. "Think you're so hot, spook?"

Paulina lobbed a grenade at the ghost, the thing exploding just before it hit him, so he didn't have a chance to turn intangible. "Tag, you're it!" She called to him before whispering to me. "Maybe we can make him mad and he can chase us so that the others can retreat? You've got the fastest sled, right?"

I nodded, dodging another blast- we both had to duck. "Hang on tight then, this isn't going to be a smooth ride."

Phantom emerged from the explosion, only mildly scuffed from the blast, smiling wickedly. "Isn't that cute? You two want to play a _game_? Fine." He put on a burst of speed, giving chase as I wheeled the sled around and dove under him. Paulina kept one arm locked around my torso to keep steady, firing at Phantom with her bazooka the whole while. With my hands both free, I was firing at every chance, but had to focus primarily on flying. My sled was fast, sure, but Phantom was probably faster. We'd have to outmaneuver him.

It seems that the ghost had an extra dose of animosity directed at me, likely due to my role in his creation. At the moment though, that hostile attention was a plus, because while he was focusing on Paulina and I with a singleminded intensity, the rest of the Patrol took the opportunity to scatter and fall back, squadrons of the sled-equipped infantry laying down cover fire for the slower artillery units. That's not to say they all got away, unfortunately. Just as we were taking every opportunity to fire at him, he took every chance he could to fire at the Patrol members.

"I don't feel so good." Paulina cringed behind me as I took us through a stomach-turning roll through the skeleton of a building, firing at the ceiling to shroud our exact position from Phantom. The building creaked ominously around us, and a massive green blast consumed the hallway behind us. Thankfully, the debris I had already knocked loose shielded us from the actual blast, and I twisted the sled around and sideways to it's smooth underside caught the shockwave. Paulina blasted a hole in the wall just before we would have slammed into it, and we were blasted out into the open air again.

"You're terribly good at _running_ , Valerie." Phantom's voice taunted from my wristband. He had to have obtained one of the communication devices. I hissed a curse at the thought of that ghost looting the corpse of one of my allies. "But you know you can't run forever."

"I may be good at running, ghost." I snarled back. "But you sure _suck_ at hitting anything!"

"Yeah, all talk and no substance!" Paulina shouted as well. "It must be all that _hot air_ making your hair stick up like that!"

I dovetailed the sled out of the way of the massive green blast that was Phantom's response to our witty banter, taking the moment to see how much longer I had to cover the retreat. _No_ pressure at all, knowing that the survival of most of your paramilitary force depends on _you_. Really. The sun would be up soon, which would limit how we could hide and evade, but it also meant safer flying with better visibility. Already the upper reaches of the plumes of smoke were lit with the pleasant colors of pre-dawn.

"Valerie!" My dad called again. "The Patrol is inside the shield! Get back here!"

I heaved a huge sigh of relief. "We're _out_ of here!"

"You're not going anywhere." Phantom appeared in front of me, and I yelped and swerved aside.

"Wanna bet, ghost?"

"Out of the way!" Paulina fired over my shoulder, catching Phantom by surprise with a shot to the face. The ghost yowled and clawed at his scorched face in anger. I didn't stick around to see what happened next- I stomped the switch and pushed my jet sled's engines as hard as possible, almost instantly leaving the angry ghost well behind us. I felt Paulina shift her weight, getting low to the board and facing our rear to fire at Phantom, and I knelt low as well to reduce the wind-resistance, praying we would reach the shield in time.

The sun finally peered over the horizon, casting harsh shadows as we flew west toward the blue light of the shield and safety. Phantom's shots were getting uncomfortably accurate, and I heard Paulina shout over the wind that he was gaining on us, and fast. Even over the wind in my ears I could clearly hear the ghost's enraged shouts as he described in detail how he would rip us both apart.

The dome wasn't quite as visible in the new daylight, the blue light appearing more faded against the sky. That might be why Phantom didn't see it. Or perhaps he was so fixated on my jet sled that he didn't pay any heed to anything besides that. We both cheered loudly as we shot through the blue barrier as though it wasn't even there, the sled spinning sideways to a halt midair.

Just in time to watch Phantom slam bodily into the shield face first at full speed. The ghost stopped dead in his tracks as if he'd just flown smack into a brick wall. For just a moment, with his cape splayed out and limbs askew, he briefly reminded me of a bug on a windshield. A very angry, very _powerful_ bug, but still, a bug. He pulled back a few feet from the dome, and I flew up alongside him, just inside the protective barrier.

"Sorry to disappoint, Phantom, but I think we went somewhere." I smiled wickedly, waving in mock-sweetness at the very visibly angry ghost.

"Looks like you lose, ghost!" Paulina blew Phantom a thoroughly sarcastic kiss. I swear, the irony in that action was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"You think that silly shield will stop me?" Phantom hissed, raising both hands over his head, charging a massive green blast.

I wanted to run, wanted to shy away just in case we were wrong and the shield wouldn't hold, but I forced myself to stare impassively at the ghost, knowing thousands of eyes were on me. I heard Paulina yelp and cover her face behind me. The sled had to have only been six feet away from Phantom, six feet from a blast that likely had the destructive power of a small nuclear bomb. And I stared him right in the face the entire time with a cold gaze.

"DIE!" Phantom shouted, lobbing the blast at the barrier. The explosion rocked the area, but the blast dissipated along the shield, repelled by the blue barrier.

I grinned at Phantom then. "Yes, I think that _silly_ shield is going to stop you. So long, spook!" I wheeled the sled around and returned to headquarters, listening to the explosions going off in the distance, mingled with Phantom's enraged shouts as he took his anger out on anything outside the barrier. A cheer went up from people once they saw the shield had worked as planned, the thirty four silver shield generator towers no longer eyesores or unnecessary in anyone's minds. Those towers were now the sentinels of Amity Park, the only thing that stood between the intact city inside and the ruins outside.

Phantom's rampage continued for several months, but the shield repelled him at every turn. The city beyond the dome however, was largely reduced to ashen rubble, buildings toppled or burned, streets blasted out and littered with debris. There were easily thousands of deaths, but no one dared venture beyond the barrier to look for the corpses or the survivors. We were safe from Phantom, but caged in by that safety. So long as the towers stood, we were safe. Nothing in Phantom's arsenal of ghost powers could breach that barrier, no matter _how_ strong he became.

Or so I thought.


	11. The Fall

**The Fall**   
"From this grey prison I look at you  
My lost and beloved wasted holy town"  
_-"Steelgods of the Last Apocalypse" - Rhapsody_

"Valerie? Got a minute?" Paulina asked me as I landed my sled, freshly returned from the now-daily ritual of checking the shield towers. The Latina looked a bit fidgety, as though something was weighing on her mind. Come to think of it, she had been a little off her game since Phantom's siege began.

"Sure, I guess. What's up?" I hopped off my jet sled, barely registering the latest explosions outside the shield's perimeter. It had been over two years since the shield went up, and despite the raging ghost's best efforts, Phantom had yet to find a way to pierce the shimmering barrier. Sure, he could damage a tower and take it offline by throwing some big chunk of debris, but he couldn't damage enough towers that way quickly enough- we simply got them repaired before he could bring down enough of the generators to take the shield offline. And no matter how strong an ectoplasmic blast was, it couldn't get through the barrier to the towers.

"Well, I've been thinking. About the ghost." Paulina fell in step with me as I strolled toward the Nasty Burger 2 for lunch, everything washed to a blue-silver color by the ever-present barrier.

"He _has_ lightened up on the rampaging outside the dome, hasn't he?" I mused aloud. "The last salvage teams haven't run into him at all."

"It's not about that." Paulina frowned, obviously pondering how best to voice whatever seemed to be bothering her. "I've been thinking, remember the last fight?"

I nodded, how could anyone _forget_ that awful battle, early in the morning of my 20th birthday? "Of course. I doubt anybody could forget _that_."

Paulina's frown deepened. "Remember what he told me? That I used to like him?"

I frowned, realizing the conversation was likely about to take a turn I really wish it wouldn't. "Phantom's said a lot of things, mostly to tick people off. I wouldn't think about it too much."

"I tried to forget it." Paulina crossed her arms. "But I watched him. Through the shield."

I stiffened. She knew, she had to have figured it out then, otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation. What could I tell her? By the way, Phantom _is_ the ghost-boy you were all ga-ga over in high school?

"Valerie, I want you to be honest with me." Paulina looked over, though she did keep her voice low so as not to be overheard. "I know you told us that the ghost destroyed Danny Phantom, or Inviso-Bill, whatever. But that's not what _really_ happened, is it?"

I cringed as she gestured vaguely in the direction of the most recent explosions. "And don't lie to me. His outfit is similar, he knows things that I don't think he had a way to know, and he has the exact same emblem on his chest! You even _call_ him 'Phantom'! That ghost we've been fighting, that _is_ him, isn't it?"

"Paulina, I-" I opened my mouth, but paused, unable to find a suitable lie. I slumped. "... yeah. That is him... kinda. Or what's left of him."

"Why did you lie to us back then?" The Latina demanded, whirling on me. "You _lied_ and said that ghost had killed Danny Phantom!"

"I didn't lie!" I bristled. "That _monster_ is only what's left of him. The ghost-boy you liked _is_ gone, and he died a _horrible_ death!"

"How do you know that?" Paulina was trying to remain relatively calm, but I could tell that this was obviously something she cared about a great deal. "And why did you lie? You said that ghost killed him, not that he was _part_ of that ghost!"

"... If you knew, eight years ago that monster was Danny Phantom, would you have been able to fight him?" I asked flatly. That thankfully brought her up short.

"Well, I-"

"When he first attacked, I _couldn't_ fight him." I stared at the ground. "I thought he was still someone we both cared about, and the idea of pointing a gun at him made me _sick_. My dad, and the city paid for it."

" _You_ cared for him?" Paulina raised an eyebrow at that statement. "But you hate ghosts, you were hunting them way before it became fashionable."

"Yeah, then he told me _who_ he was." I frowned, feeling that old sadness coming to the surface. "And I reacted badly and chased him off."

"Who he was?" Paulina's anger had thankfully subsided in the wake of her confusion and curiosity. "Valerie, how much _have_ you kept from everybody?"

We got our lunches, and I motioned for her to follow me to the park. She deserved the truth, I guess. She _had_ proven herself time and again on the battlefield, when I had never thought the former cheerleader capable of such depth of character, putting her life on the line for love and revenge and for other people. Maybe I just couldn't bring myself to outright lie about it in addition to all the part-truths I'd told over the years.

"You remember that explosion at the Nasty Burger eight years ago?" I asked as we sat down near one of the fountains. "The one that killed Mr. Lancer, the Fentons, and Sam and Tucker?"

Paulina nodded as she started on her meal. "What's that have to do with Phantom?"

"More than you know." I sighed. "Remember Danny Fenton? The only survivor?"

Paulina was confused now. " _That_ loser? What about him? I thought he moved away after that."

I looked the Latina in the eye. "That _loser_ **was** Danny Phantom."

I admit, the look on Paulina's face was absolutely priceless. She just _froze_ , burger halfway to her mouth, eyes wide with blatant disbelief. "Wait, you're kidding, right? Danny Phantom was a _ghost_ , everybody knew Fenton was a..."

"A kid who was always running off, had unexplained absences, was often caught in the middle of all the weird stuff that happened, and often disappeared whenever the ghost-boy showed up?" I filled in for her.

The Latina paused, obviously still trying to process this. "But... how?" She finally managed to squeak around her gaping.

I shrugged. "I don't know the details. Just that Danny had an accident... and that was the result. I was an idiot when he told me, and he disappeared afterward."

".... Now it makes sense why the ghost-boy kept saying I should go out with Danny Fenton..." Paulina stared, the pieces ever-so-slowly falling into place. She glared at me again. "But if Danny Fenton _is_ the ghost boy, what happened? _Why_ did he turn into a crazy ghost? Was it because _you_ were always shooting at him?"

I shook my head, hoping to blunt Paulina's anger about my having been hunting the object of her affection. "After he skipped town... something happened between his ghost self and human self." I felt she didn't need to know the gruesome details. "Another ghost... corrupted him, I guess."

"Corrupted him?"

"Drove him mad, made him insane." I clarified. "His human self didn't stand a chance."

Paulina gasped at what I was implying. "You mean he-?"

I nodded, wiping a stray tear. "Yeah. Danny Fenton was killed. I saw the grave with my own eyes. Anything and everything that was good about the ghost-boy died with him."

An unsettling, sober silence settled over the two of us. I'm sure, had this been eight years ago, that Paulina would have been all over the place declaring the news, sharing this new gossip. As it was, we just sat there as the new knowledge sank in. Everyone had been forced to grow up a lot thanks to the rampages, I think I heard it tossed around that every single person in town was no more than one person removed from at least one of Phantom's victims. Everyone knew someone who had been killed, or knew someone who had lost a relative or a friend.

"That's... awful." Paulina finally broke the silence. "And you didn't tell anyone all this time?"

I shook my head. "Like I said before, would you or anyone else have been able to fight him then, if you'd known?"

The Latina stayed silent for a long time. "Probably not." She finally admitted, and I caught her wiping her face on a napkin. "I didn't know that Fenton was... well. Gone."

I nodded slightly, letting a fragment of my own grief come to the surface. "I didn't know until two years after it happened. I found out from the guy that's been paying for our equipment. I mean, I had a feeling that was the case but... it still hurt to find out and have it confirmed."

"You really liked him, didn't you?" Paulina raised an eyebrow at me. "I always thought he and the goth girl would get together."

I shrugged. "If things had gone differently, they _would_ have."

We sat in silence again, contemplating our own thoughts and the sun, tinted blue through the ever-present dome above. I had to admit, I did feel a bit better having told the truth. Well, having had the truth, minus a few unnecessary details, dragged out of me.

"It's been eight years... but feels like it was just yesterday, doesn't it?" Paulina broke the silence, not looking at me.

I shrugged, nibbling at my salad. "Yeah, to be fourteen again. To give myself a well-deserved smack upside the head."

"Wow. You really _do_ blame yourself, huh?" Paulina quirked an eyebrow. "So, how many people know about all this? About the ghost-boy being Danny Fenton and now _that_ ghost?"

"As of now, you, me, my Dad... and, well, Dash, wherever he is now." I shrugged, closing my eyes against that particular recollection. "You were out cold at the time, but Phantom taunted Dash with that, right before the end."

Paulina shook her head slightly. "I thought I was hearing things after he hit me." She rubbed her face, obviously remembering that particular blow she'd taken during Phantom's first rampage. "And I thought he looked a little like the ghost-boy but..."

"From what I was told, Danny had been dead for almost a week by the time we fought him." I glanced over. "So you were sorta awake when he killed Dash?"

The Latina nodded. "Now I wish I wasn't. I thought I was hallucinating after that hit." She cringed. "I didn't think it was possible. The ghost boy would never have done things like that!"

"He wouldn't have, either." I frowned at my meal.

"Well, I won't tell anybody." Paulina declared, her tone indicating she meant it, too.

I raised an eyebrow, surprised by the declaration, and vastly relieved. "You won't?"

Paulina shook her head. "I won't. Besides, it's not nice to speak ill of the dead, right?" She grinned at me, a humorless smile. "Maybe if our entire way of life hadn't gotten turned upside-down, I could have fallen for Fenton, not just the ghost-boy. But we've got more important things to worry about now, right? We're not kids anymore."

I set my fork down, surprised at this sudden show of depth from the Latina. Maybe Sam had been wrong all those years ago about her. Under the right circumstances, anybody could mature. "Wow, Paulina, I didn't expect to hear something like that from you, no offense."

She waved a hand at my surprise. "The ghost-boy _was_ always saving me, right? But now we can't count on that, so _we_ have to save ourselves. And _I'll_ save his reputation." She sighed longingly, reminding me of how she used to moon over Danny back in high school, back before we had to worry about these things, before Phantom had up-ended our entire way of life.

Life took on a new routine, as it tends to do. Phantom disappeared for a time, but everyone was well-conditioned by then. The shield meant safety, to go beyond it meant a very dangerous risk. The city gradually became self-sufficient, since we had become effectively cut off from the outside world. I heard from Vlad Masters once or twice shortly after the third rampage, but soon after, all I got was silence on the line when I tried to call him. Then the money stopped coming in, it had no way to, with communication and transit cut off.

The entire society of Amity Park had to rearrange itself. We suddenly had limited space, limited resources, and a strict set of priorities. Instead of growing outward, the buildings grew taller while manufacturing built down, creating an underground warren of factories. Thanks in a large part to the technology Vlad had already given us, Axion was able to develop the technologies we needed to build an existence in the wastelands, a giant splotch of civilization in the middle of a vast wasteland. It really was an impressive feat. In just three years since the siege began, Amity Park had gone from a modern city to a futuristic arcology, self-contained, self-sufficient, and for the most part, content.

In order to obtain some basic building supplies, the bold, desperate, and reckless formed salvage teams- groups of men and women who would slip out from under the safety of the barrier and venture out into the wasteland. The Patrol aided these efforts, flying interference and decoy missions to keep Phantom busy. Under the cover of these intense firefights, the teams would scour the ruins for useful materials- steel, concrete that could be powdered and recycled, aluminum, anything. In the first two years of the siege, many of these brave fools met messy ends, as did many of the Patrol members who tangled with the ghost. But were it not for them, we wouldn't have been able to last as long as we did. A shame it couldn't last.

It was a grey afternoon, the threat of a storm looming dark overhead, flashes of lightning crackling through the air, occasionally setting small fires out in the ruins. The aerial cars crept along their routes, as the city maintained it's normal level of bustling activity. I was going about my daily routine, checking the towers. It had been months since anyone had last seen any sign of Phantom, the fear was beginning ever slowly to fade. I did a flyby of my old alma mater, acknowledging the waves of the students with a quick salute before I shot off on my way to the next tower. My 24th birthday would be coming up soon, and I'd heard rumors about the Patrol planning some sort of surprise. I was actually in a fairly chipper mood that day, my grief from the past pushed back from my thoughts as I approached one of the massive towers, listening to the distinct crackling noise from the massive generators.

I hopped off the sled as I reached the maintenence platform, leaning my sled on the rail and quickly closing the distance between the railing and the tower structure, where the status box was. Sure, all thirty-four towers reported their status directly to FentonWorks via both wireless communications and ground lines, but the Patrol was trained to be paranoid, hence my daily manual checks, a ritual that took most of the morning and occasionally into the afternoon. With practiced ease, I flipped the box open, verifying that all the power gauges were within acceptable limits. How could I have known what was about to happen that bleak afternoon?

I tapped a button on my wrist band, reporting back to my father at headquarters. "Ghost shield tower nine, one-hundred percent operational." We had some minor problems earlier in the day with towers thirty-two and thirty-three, and calling that in had put my routine slightly out of order.

My father sat down in a chair back at headquarters. "Great sweetie." He had aged fairly well, though he had the look now of a soldier who had seen the worst the battlefield had to offer. "Check the last tower and get ba-"

The tiny screen cut to static suddenly, and I tensed as I felt the familiar rush of adrenaline as my worry instantly mounted. "Daddy? Daddy!" I demanded, getting no response. The screen cut to black, save for two gleaming red eyes. No, what did _he_ want now? What did he _think_ he could do? The shield had stopped him _every time_ in the past, why was he contacting me _now_?

"Hello Valerie." That voice, silky smooth, I could almost _see_ him smirking as he addressed me.

"You _again_?" I snapped at my communicator, glaring at the tiny screen. I was confident in the shield's ability, otherwise I might not have been quite so talkative to Phantom. "I don't care _how_ powerful you are, ghost! You _can't_ break through the shield!"

Famous last words of a fool. I should have known better than to tempt fate, to tempt karma. But no, like every other person in that city, I had come to view those giant silver towers as an impregnable fortress, a barrier that no ghost could ever _hope_ to breach. I didn't count on Phantom's strength ever giving him a way to take out at least fifteen of the towers at the same time. After all, to accomplish that would require an attack with a blast range some twenty-seven miles wide, and several miles deep.

"Until _today_." Phantom stated, a trace amount of smug glee in his tone, and it sounded for an instant like he was taking a deep breath.

That's when it all fell apart. The deck beneath my feet rumbled and the most hideous, piercing wailing I could ever imagine sounded out. I winced and covered my ears as I staggered on the suddenly unsteady footing, the gesture useless against the bone-grating cacophony. It was like an earthquake, the entire city quaking from top to bottom. The wailing was soon joined by fearful cries and panicked shouts; a literal explosion of glass and a chorus of explosions as aircar drivers lost control of their vehicles amid the confusion, smashing into each other, into buildings, into the ground.

I gasped when I heard tower nine's status box beeping a warning, the sound almost inaudible amid all the noise. I glanced up at it, gaping in horror as I saw the power gauges plummeting. With a yelp I looked up at the generator several dozen stories above me, watching the blue-white bolts crackling along the massive structure. To my absolute horror, I watched as the explosions began, first at the uppermost part of the generator, and running steadily down the massive silver structure. Looking up all the while, I ran to retrieve my jet sled. I had to get away or I would be caught in the blast!

With a shout I leapt from the railing, my grip on the sled torn as the deck behind me exploded, propelling me wildly through the air on the shockwave. I tumbled midair before realizing I was now on a crash course with one of the buildings in the distance. It was reflex, I hit the recall button, already thinking of what needed to be done to address the emergency even as I fell. It was only one tower, there had to still be time!

Thankfully, my sled caught me just inches before I would have plowed into the glass side of an office tower, the remaining glass shattering in the jet wake. I pulled myself up to a sitting position, straddling the sled as I regained the lost altitude. It was bad. The wailing had tapered off, but tower nine was in _ruins_ , smoke billowing from the top. I was only briefly relieved to see the blue dome still shining. Very briefly, because then tower ten exploded in much the same way as nine. Then tower eleven, then twelve, then thirteen. Smoke curled into the air as the explosions continued, and I knew in that moment we were doomed. I saw in the distance as the towers continued to explode, counting in my head the number of them that still functioned. Twenty-two, twenty-one, twenty... nineteen.

It began at the base of the dome, the blue bubble slowly lifting skyward, the comforting glow diminishing as the shield faded, revealing the grey sky to the masses. For a moment, there was silence as the shield winked out completely directly overhead. I knew it, every single person in the streets far below me knew it. Our time was up. The strange silence lasted but for a moment before it was replaced by the screeching of the emergency sirens and the cries of panic as people began to flee. The automated emergency system kicked into gear, emergency shelters emerging to take people underground, where hopefully they might be spared.

"Like the new power?" Phantom's voice issued from my wristband, and I glared uselessly at the device, at the ghost's taunting. "I call it my 'Ghostly Wail'."

I was distracted from saying something suitably nasty in response by the sound of a blast from above and behind me. I spun just in time to catch sight of the massive violet orb, and took the hit head-on. I plummeted, too dazed to recall my sled. Fortunately, I plowed through a few trees which slowed my fall before I crashed to a halt near the Nasty Burger 2, battered and bruised, but thankfully nothing broken. Phantom didn't launch purple blasts, his were green! Did that monster team up with someone?

I opened my eyes slowly, though I snapped back to alertness at what I saw. " ** _You_**?"

"Yes, _me._ " The ghost floated down, cloaked in an ominous purple aura, his voice quite possibly more smug than Phantom's had been a moment ago. I recognized the ghost- he was the right-hand man to that ghost king years ago. Fright Knight, if what I found in Danny's old computer was accurate. "And **I** serve a _new_ master now."

I climbed back to my feet, keeping an eye on the ghost as he charged another purple blast. With a glare, I hit the button to call my sled again, the silver board whisking me out of the way just before that shot could land. I heard it detonate behind me, likely taking most of the fast food place with it. "Gotta get to Dad-!" I muttered, my voice full of worry. The Patrol would be mobilizing to fight the ghost, but the Fright Knight was small fry compared to the real threat. Phantom had to be close by, it was just a matter of time before those green explosions would rip through the city.

I stayed low to the street, avoiding the blasts coming from the pursuing spook. I cringed every time I heard an explosion behind me- the Fright Knight was pretty quick, even without that monster horse of his. Fortunately, his aim was pretty lousy as I shot vertical alongside a building wall, explosions behind me ripping into the structure. I could still hear the panic in the streets, it would be a miracle if the casualties were less than half the population. As I cleared the building, I cut the engines, letting my momentum carry my sled on an arcing course until FentonWorks was visible straight ahead. With a roar of jet engines, I shot toward the structure, the ghost still hot on my tail. Thankfully Fright Knight's overall destructive power was several orders of magnitude lower than Phantom's terrifying strength.

I heard another shot charging behind me, and risked a glance back. Fright Knight was about to launch a blast easily bigger than he was. With a yelp, I jerked my sled out of the projectile's path, watching it slam into the op center atop FentonWorks. With a shriek of tortured steel, the upper structure bent and broke, hanging askew off the roof of the op center, tearing a gaping hole in the roof and ripping the FentonWorks ghost shield to pieces before we could brace even that small defense. I had no time to waste on that loss though. If we somehow survived this, we could always rebuild. I had to get to my dad, and fast.

Forgetting the Fright Knight for the moment, I dove through the new skylight, tearing through the house on my sled at speeds best stated as utterly reckless. In seconds I was down the stairs, flitting through the kitchen, and into the basement, to the lab where the portal stood sealed and where my dad was waiting for me. The emergency lights were flashing, and I could hear the equipment beeping out urgent reports on the situation.

"Dad, the Fright Knight's here. Which means **_he_** can't be far behind." I exclaimed as I spun my sled to a halt at the base of the stairs, jumping off it. My dad was busy at the terminal, looking over the flood of data as my panic began to rise in a way it hadn't in years. "What do we _do_? What do we-"

I was cut off mid-panic as the ground lurched beneath our feet, that otherworldly wailing rocking the building. I wobbled, almost falling over, and caught the serious look my dad gave me.

"Valerie." He said, his voice serious. " **Run.** "

There was no more time for words, we both heard the sound of concrete snapping and looked toward the portal. A massive crack was ripping through the floor, an eerie green light pouring through the huge fissure. With a blast of energy, my nightmare incarnate leapt forth, not ten feet away from where my dad and I stood. While some of the ceiling fell from the blast, he landed softly, the green light shining sickeningly on the white of his suit, cape, and flaming hair.

"Hello Valerie." Phantom stated flatly, that hateful sneer plastered on his face, red eyes shining in the now darkened and silenced lab.

I gasped, gawking at the ghost. He had filled out drastically since our last fight, and even without equipment, I could literally _feel_ the cold power pouring off his pale form. This was it, this was the end of it all, I knew it. The grim reaper had decided to take me at last, and sent this _demon_ to do it.

"And _goodbye_."

"NO-!" I yelled, throwing both hands up in front of my face as I saw the green blast coming. Something knocked me to the floor in that instant, sparing me the direct blow. Instead, my shout was lost in the sudden cacophony as the explosion ripped through the building. I felt something warm manage to shield me from the falling debris. I later realized that my dad had saved my life at the hands of Phantom yet again. The blast seemed to go on forever, though it had to have only been an instant. As I lost consciousness, it was to the sound of the ghost's maniacal laughter.

The end had come. Our doom was upon us, and there was nothing more we could do to keep it at bay.


	12. Phantom's Bane

**Phantom's Bane**  
"This ain’t no game; I play it hard  
Kicked around, cut, stitched and scarred  
I’ll take the hit but not the fall  
I know no fear, still standing tall"  
_-"Bounce" - Bon Jovi_ **  
**

It was already over when I regained consciousness, surrounded by rubble. I had been shoved beneath a desk, and that had thankfully held up. A cold form draped stiffly over my legs in that inky darkness. I could faintly hear explosions in the distance, the ground beneath me trembling slightly from whatever was happening. I was surprised to be alive, in all honesty. I was certain that if that blast didn't strike me down, than the likely collapse of the building would have. I felt a faint draft of air, which meant to me that the rubble my dad and I were buried underneath couldn't be _that_ thick.

"We've got to get out of here-" I squirmed in that cramped space, tapping the recall button on my sled. I heard the sound of its engines firing nearby, confirming that we could probably dig ourselves out. I didn't want to think of what was going on outside, but I knew it had to be bad. "C'mon, Daddy, we've got to get-"

I froze as I felt a sticky substance on my glove. Dazedly, I prodded the still form next to me in the darkness. "Daddy-?"

I got no response as I felt around in the murk. My exploration indicated that my father was indeed next to me... but a wall of rubble pressed down on his back, and he lay horribly still, cool to the touch. _No, this can't be happening!_ I screamed to myself. After everything else that had happened, it just _couldn't_! I groped in the darkness, pressing two fingers lightly beneath my father's jawbone, praying for a pulse. I couldn't feel anything, but at the time blamed it on how badly I was quaking with my own terror.

"Daddy? Come on, Dad, wake up! He's gone, you can stop playing dead... please-!" I whimpered, trying to feel for his breathing and finding only silence. "Daddy.... c'mon...."

I'm not sure just how long I sat huddled there in that pocket of safety, rocking back and forth, trying in vain to coax a response from my dad. It may have been hours, it may have been a few minutes after the awful reality made itself known. In that crushing black silence, I only know I felt horribly, acutely alone. I honestly thought in that instant that it would have been better if I _had_ died, if only to not have to face this anguish. There's only so much trauma a person can take, after all. My mother had been gone for years and years; I'd lost my dearest friend through my own stupidity, and chased him to his death; the city I had grown up in and given everything for was as good as gone; and now I was to lose the absolute last person I cared dearly for? My only remaining family member, my last refuge from my fears and doubts?

My sled was still straining to break free, and I heard the rubble slowly shifting as its thrusters tried to make the board obey the recall command. It took a lot of delicate maneuvering before I was able to clamber out of that little pocket in the ruin, and I was surprised to find that the building was actually for the most part _intact_. The ceiling had collapsed to the basement floor, but the outer walls still held, albeit creaking ominously. Phantom's blast had effectively gutted FentonWorks instead of toppling it. It probably wouldn't take much _more_ abuse before it collapsed but it still stood, for the moment. Sunlight poured into the basement, hazy through the thick cloud of dust that had settled following the explosion. I could look straight up from the basement and see the gaping tear in the roof where the Fright Knight's blast had ripped into the op center.

I still distantly heard sounds of a battle, but my thoughts were on my father as I struggled with the wreckage, pulling him free of the rubble after at least an hour's effort. My sense of time was skewed, it might have been more than a day. I honestly don't recall. It was awful though, when I saw what Phantom's wrath had done to him. Where my dad wasn't scorched from the ghost's powerful blast, he was crushed and mangled to an unrecognizable mess from the fallen debris. Even if he _had_ survived, his injuries would have been so grievous that he likely would have suffered even longer before reaching the same conclusion- there were likely no hospitals I could have taken him to, he would have died of his wounds anyway.

I find it hard to describe my mental state. I was alone, depressed and grieving, but I was also numb. It was just like that day,  eight years earlier when I stood at Danny's grave and wept for the loss. Only now the horror laid out in ruin before my own eyes as I hefted the remains on my sled and flew to the cemetery in a daze, the action almost automated as if I was letting someone else go through the motions. Already Amity Park was looking little different from the ruins beyond the shield's former boundary; buildings broken, snapped like twigs or blasted into heaps of debris; streets blasted out and littered with the rubble. A miserable rain had started up, green explosions lighting the underside of the cloud deck, a fitting day for the city's demise.

Tears streaming down my face, I blasted out a grave for my father in that broken cemetery, but I was only able to give him a shallow burial, with my old ecto-grenade launcher driven into the soil to mark where he lay. "I promise I'll be back, Daddy." I croaked around the lump in my throat, around my tears and grief deeper than I have words for. "And then you'll get a proper monument... Please watch over me, Daddy, please..."

It's most strange describing how I felt. My grief and massive loss, my despair; it all merged with a dark realization as I watched the explosions in the distance, the sounds of a losing battle. Ten years ago, on that day in Amity Park, I destroyed Danny's last hope of support, his last chance. With the explosion, and my reaction, he had lost everything and everyone that had supported him, cared for him. And here I was, ten years later, standing before a shallow grave, and I was _just like him_. A lost young woman who's world was turned inside-out, bereft of friends and family, all alone in a terrifying and very hostile world. Because of _him_.

I don't have a ghost half to blame for my reaction, either. _I_ went _insane_ that day, I _willfully_ jumped off the deep end and made my own descent into madness. It had to be madness, pure insanity or some subconscious suicidal impulse. I _would_ destroy Phantom, by my own hands. Never mind that none of my weapons seemed able to do significant damage to the ghost, that little fact was utterly irrelevant. I would stalk him through the ruins, hunt him through the wastelands, fight him until the end of him or my own likely gruesome ending.

What more did I _have_ to lose? My life? Hah, in my state of mind, my life _was_ **_already_** forfeit, I felt like a corpse that had merely forgotten to lie down just yet, an empty shell. I had already lost Danny. I had already lost countless friends, countless comrades-in-arms; people who had _counted_ on me to lead them, who had put _their_ lives at stake on the battlefield. I had lost my hometown; it lay in broken ruins all around me, a hideous mockery of the nice place to live of my childhood. And now, I had lost my father, my comforting guiding light; my only support against the guilt I carried for chasing Danny off years ago, for my role in the creation of the monster that haunted Amity Park now. I had _nothing_ left to lose, and truth be told, I had **no** fear left. No fear of Phantom or his unstoppable strength, and certainly no fear of the idea that I was rushing headlong to my own death. I was perfectly _content_ with the idea that I would very likely die trying to destroy that ghost. I think I even _welcomed_ the idea, I took a demented sort of **glee** in knowing that there was _nothing_ more that he could do to me that would hurt me. In a twisted sort of way, I felt absolutely _invincible_. There was _nothing_ more Phantom could take from me that I cared about, since I no longer cared whether I lived or died. But I still had a chance to take away the only thing that seemed to give _him_ any pleasure. I could _stop_ him, bring a halt to his ten year reign of terror and bring a long overdue revenge to its right and proper conclusion. For my father, for all those people in the city who were now broken, bloody corpses. For Danny.

I _wasn't_ thinking clearly, I knew that much. But in the wake of such events, I imagine I _had_ to either go insane or turn into a catatonic, useless whimpering husk of my former self. I was dead for certain either way, the only difference was how I arrived at that death. Viewed through my demented logic, it was _better_ to rush to meet my end with all guns blazing instead of waiting uselessly for Phantom to find me and finish me off. The very idea of the spook standing over my broken remains and _laughing_ that horrible, mad laugh was enough to set my teeth to grinding in my agitation.

To this day, I'm not certain what happened in the immediate aftermath of the shield falling. I don't know what became of the Fright Knight, though I heard various conflicting tales from surviving Patrol members in later months. Some thought they saw Phantom strike the Halloween spirit down, others were certain it was someone from the Patrol. What I do know is that no sooner was Phantom within the shield boundary than he was flinging massive blasts, toppling the high-tech towers, picking off people in the streets below. And that he delighted in the destruction, in the mass-murder.

Survivors told horror stories of how he used that wailing attack to destroy most of the Patrol in a single shot- aircraft and tanks unable to withstand the sonic blast, the machines trashed and toppled, blown away as if by a hurricane. Anything that survived that attack he delighted in destroying with more traditional blasts and basic brute force, throwing people, throwing _tanks_ as if they weighed no more than a few ounces.

I saw the wreckage myself in many cases, the battered and blasted hulls, the broken wreckage of the Patrol's heroic last stand as I walked through the ruins, through what remained of the battlefield. I _was_ proud of them, though they hadn't been able to do much. They had fought, and fought valiantly. It was their sacrifice that kept Phantom busy long enough to enable _some_ of the civilians to scatter into the wasteland.

It was an Apocalypse in truth- our way of life, our society had been turned on its ear before, true. But now civilization in its entirety, our society, _everything_ was destroyed, so much ruin in a vast grey expanse of wasteland. The survivors had to eke out an existence from the death and destruction; cowering from the fear, the absolute, paralyzing terror that the ghost would find them. My father was fortunate to have as much of a burial as he had gotten, I discovered. There was no way to even _estimate_ how many people were killed. Communication was almost non-existent between the scattered small groups of survivors. It probably wouldn't be a stretch to guess that at least nine-tenths of Amity Park's population was killed in Phantom's fourth and most devastating rampage.

The first survivors I came across shied away from me at first until one of them, a Patrol member recognized me. I was then quickly welcomed into their den, a tiny cavern formed from a roadway overpass and a collapsed building, and it housed perhaps twenty people, mostly teens and young adults, huddled up in fear, jumping at even the slightest noise from outside.

"Commander! You're alive!" The Patrol member, a member of Dash's long-defunct posse gaped at me. "We thought for sure you were killed when the explosion-"

"I should have been." I stated, surprised even in my madness at how cold my voice was. "What's the status of the Patrol?"

"Th-the Patrol?" The ex-jock stammered, taking an involuntary step back from me. I must have been quite a sight to behold, jet sled tucked under one arm, ecto-gun in one hand, various other weapons stashed away in my dirty suit, and with an expression that had to have been frigid enough to make glaciers with.

"Yes." I confirmed.

"After FentonWorks went up... well, we kept fighting, Commander. All of us." The guy explained haltingly, obviously distressed by whatever horrors he had seen. "We didn't stand a chance. After that huge sonic blast, there were so few of us left. Nothing we did could stop him! We tried, but nothing worked, none of our equipment, none of the tactics! Paulina gave the order to fall back and scatter... we had no choice, Commander. We _had_ to run."

"I'm going after _him_." I stated, one fist clenched tightly. "Who's with me?"

I was met with twenty matching stares of disbelief as I surveyed the small grouping. Some of the younger kids in the group actually hid behind the older members, biting back frightened whimpers, and they all backed away.

"Are you insane?" The ex-jock stared outright. "We couldn't do _anything_ to him with the entire Patrol! We have _nothing_ to fight him with!"

"We still have our lives, don't we?" I snapped.

"And that's about it." The Patrol member cast a fearful glance at the entrance when a thunderbolt split the sky outside, the wind howling over the ruins.

"And you have the nerve to call yourself part of the Amity Park Ghost Patrol?" I hissed, taking an angry step toward the poor guy. "I'm your _Commander_ , remember?"

The ex-jock shivered under my glare, obviously he had to steel his nerves before he could speak his mind. "N-not anymore."

" _What_?" I demanded, grabbing a fistful of the front of the guy's uniform. He met my glare, though I could see the fear in his eyes.

"There's nothing left!" He managed to pull away from my grip, jumping back a few feet in his panic. "There's no more Ghost Patrol, there's no more _Amity Park_! How can you command something that doesn't even _exist_ anymore?"

I glowered at the guy. "Fine. Hide then. I'll hunt him down _myself_ if I have to." I spat as I whirled to depart.

Such was the pattern of most of my encounters. The will to fight had been absolutely destroyed in everyone I came across, they would rather hide away and hope to escape Phantom's notice than confront the monster. A tiny handful of other Patrol members had made the jump to insanity that I had, but we couldn't cooperate. Many of them wanted to confront the ghost head-on, a last-ditch fight that I thought would be useless. My own form of madness had taken the form of a cold, calculating determination; not a hot burning rage. I had no more sense of self-preservation than the other insane ex-Patrol members, but I wasn't going to be entirely stupid about this hunt.

So it came to pass that I was watching five ex-Patrol members fighting the ghost. Three of them still had jet sleds, while the remaining two did what they could from the ground. Where was I? Hidden, buried in a pile of rubble, lying motionless in wait as I watched, my weapon's muzzle invisible in a tiny gap in the debris. I wanted dearly to fire the weapon, to inflict some harm to the source of my suffering, but I waited. The opportune moment hadn't yet arrived.

"You go to-" One of my former comrades shrieked, firing wildly at Phantom.

"Go _where_?" The ghost sneered, suddenly moving in and snatching the sled from underneath the poor fool's feet. "The Ghost Zone? Been there. It got boring."

"AAAH-!" The cry was cut short by a brilliant green energy blast.

"You monster!" I heard one of the others shriek. I watched from my vantage as Phantom turned to deal with that one.

There! That was my moment! I squeezed the trigger of my weapon, not wasting the effort on smiling as the pink beam shot out from my weapon and slammed into Phantom from behind, sending him flying through the air but not doing any real damage. He was as surprised as the other Patrol members, looking around with an angry glare to figure out where the blow had come from.

"Get him-!"

Unfortunately, those brave idiots were little more than cannon fodder, and I watched Phantom toy with them from my vantage. I probably could have rescued them, I would have had the advantage of surprise, but I didn't. It would have put my vengeance at risk, and I held that above all else then. When the blasts cleared, Phantom floated to a landing no more than three feet from my hiding place, chuckling to himself about his handiwork.

"Absolutely beautiful." He mused to himself, obviously unaware of my presence, which was precisely what I wanted. "Wouldn't even _recognize_ this disaster area now."

I lined up another shot in silence, right between those crimson eyes. I didn't waste effort on taunts or witty banter, I simply pulled the trigger. The pink energy beam said everything I needed to say as it sent Phantom flying in surprise and skidding to a halt against a pile of rubble, momentarily lost in a cloud of smoke, sputtering angrily.

"What the-?" The spook waved the smoke away as I broke cover, flying away amid the piles of wreckage. "You're _still_ not dead?"

I didn't respond, firing a few blasts that kicked up more plumes of smoke, a few shots tagging the pursuing ghost. The ploy worked, he lost track of me, giving me time to go to ground and take up a new hiding place. My hand held radar was great for pointing out where he was, how fast he was moving, and in what direction. The ghost peered at the likely hiding places- crannies in the rubble, half-standing buildings, but couldn't find me so long as I remained calm and very, _very_ still.

"This is _cute_." The ghost raised his voice to make sure he was heard. "You want to play _tag_ , Valerie? How unlike you!"

I stayed deathly still in my hiding place, listening to Phantom's taunts. I knew he couldn't locate me, I knew he was trying to bait me. But he was trying to bait the old me, the sane one; not the me that was insane with grief, a solitary predator with but one goal. I was free of the responsibilities now that had prevented my going after the ghost with a single-minded intensity, free of obligations. I was free of emotional handicaps like dignity and friendship, leaving me only with a merciless, ruthless thirst for violence. I was able to dedicate myself completely to my only purpose. His defeat.

"No answer?" Phantom cupped one hand to his ear, still smirking. "How totally unlike you. No more witty banter? Or did that _die_ with your old man?"

Not even _that_ cruel taunt could make me move from where I lay buried deep in a rubble pile, my sled above me to keep the weight from crushing me. Had it been just a year earlier, I would have already leapt out, firing wildly and shouting curses. But I merely bristled in silence, plotting how to trap the ghost, how best to use my limited tools to their greatest effect.

Such was the pattern of my life for the next six months. A most dangerous game of hide and seek, tagging Phantom while avoiding him and escaping his retaliation. I would lie motionless in wait for days just for a single solid shot to his back or face. Sometimes other survivors would assist me, providing what supplies and shelter they could, while others avoided me, likely fearing I was every bit as dangerous as the ghost, a red-clad shadow, the bane of any and all ghosts in the wasteland.

So it came to pass one day that I was hidden in a pile of rubble, my largest ecto-cannon charged and ready. It was a grey morning, making the already bleak ruins more so. My radar faintly registered the ghost springing into place a few hundred feet away. I should have known something strange was going on just from that; Phantom had no way to mask his ecto-signature from my radar. He couldn't just _appear_ well inside my scanning range as though from thin air. But the reality of it was so unbelievable that I could only assume it _was_ Phantom. I heard voices, faint, but vaguely familiar, just on the edge of recognition.

"How do you think this all _happens_?"

My radar tracked the ghost- Phantom was moving slowly along, perhaps stalking whoever that was I heard talking. I sighted him through the scope on my cannon, nearly gasping before my resolve hardened. It was a trick, I was certain. Just like ten years ago when I first drove him through the Fenton Portal, he was changing his appearance to try and play with my _emotions_ , so that he could take me down. Well I _wasn't_ going to fall for it. I was no more of a sappy _fool_ now than **he** was. I lined up the shot, ready to leap from my hiding place.

"I dunno, but based on what we just saw... " I heard that voice, straight from my childhood, sounding confused and worried. Oh, he thought he was such a good actor that I would actually _fall_ for it? Hah! "I have a _really_ bad feeling _I'm_ the one responsible."


	13. Ghost of a Memory

**Ghost of a Memory**  
"You set me up, shoot me down  
I'm wounded on this battleground  
It's time, for sure, for ending this war  
'Cause my heart can't take anymore"  
**_-"White Flag" - Garth Brook_ s** **  
**

"I have a _really_ bad feeling _I'm_ the one responsible."

 _You have no idea, spook._ I growled to myself. Normally, I would take my shot from my hiding place, get a few more shots in to cover my escape, and then move to a new hiding location. That was the way the game had been played for six months, a deadly dance back and forth of hide and seek where the price of being found was certain and likely painful death. But seeing _that_ face, mocking me, mocking everything _good_ about the past, _everything_ Danny had stood for was just **too** much. How _dare_ he try and trick me with that innocent face! To say I was ticked off would be like saying Amity Park was currently a mess; sure it may be the truth, but it utterly fails to describe the complete scope of it. I was _enraged_ , really, the first real emotion I had felt in that entire six months since the shield fell. The thought of that _monster_ descrating Danny's heroic image of ten years ago ignited six months of madness, ten years of guilt, and eight years of hatred in a massive mental conflagration. It was going to _end_ today, one way or the other. I fully expected to meet my ending, but in my madness, I didn't care. If I was going to die, that was fine,  but I was going to make absolutely _certain_ that Phantom was going to join me in oblivion.

"Got _that_ right, ghost!" I snarled as I sprang from my hiding place, bazooka aimed just below the floating specter. He actually seemed surprised as I fired the weapon, maybe the unexpected change in my tactics had managed to throw even that maniac off track for a moment. I felt the adrenaline surging through my veins, every sense on a razor edge of alertness; my world consisting for that moment of nothing more than the form of my nightmare and myself to the exclusion of all else. I hovered over the resultant blast crater as the explosion cleared, no way that shot had been fatal. That would have been too easy. I was proven right when a moment later he floated up out of the ground, a surprised and oddly indignant expression on his face.

"Valerie!" He yelped, sounding genuinely surprised as he floated there, not ten feet away. God, he even had Danny's voice, that soulless beast! How _dare_ he try that on me! I glared death at him as he continued to try and trick me with that disguise. "Listen to me!"

"You can't fool me _this_ time, Phantom!" I spat, taking aim with my cannon. It was probably the most powerful weapon in my arsenal, a real beast of a cannon that I had to prop up on my shoulder, most of the weapon's weight on the shoulder straps of my battle suit.

He yelped as he dodged the first shot, springing into the air. For a moment, it really _did_ remind me of the old days, before I knew his secret. I snarled and forced that memory back where it belonged. The battlefield had _no_ place for sappy sentiments, _that_ kind of thinking would only get me hurt or worse, killed without achieving my objective. Phantom flitted out of the way of my second blast, and then the third, the brilliant energy beams smashing instead into the ruined buildings lining the street. Debris clattered to the ground, the buildings creaking and cracking warningly at the added abuse- it wouldn't take more more to bring them crashing down like so many before. Luckily I no longer had to worry myself about causing collateral damage. It was ironic in a way- it was the exact same location I first laid eyes on that monster, ten years ago, when I still thought he had a shred of humanity, of kindness left in him. When I thought I could make amends for how I had treated him. If only I hadn't made that first mistake, in the park ten years ago. But all the "if only" thoughts in the world wouldn't change the fact that he _had_ to be destroyed now.

The gutted FentonWorks building loomed impassively over the battlefield, a pale memory of its former glory, the twisted wreck of the ops center casting bizarre shadows as I blasted after Phantom on my jet sled, running on instinct and adrenaline. He was flying straight at me, likely hoping to slam into me and ensure I was stunned long enough so he could finish me off. I didn't give him the pleasure, leaping off my sled and letting it throttle straight at his surprised face. The board didn't actually _hit_ him, but surprisingly enough he was tumbled midair by the jet wake as it narrowly missed his slim frame. It was odd, he usually had far better control of himself midair than that, but who was I to argue when opportunity knocked? I immediately launched an ecto-charged net at him, not really expecting it to work. In a sinister sort of way, I was extremely delighted when fate appeared to smile on me again, the net smacking into Phantom's surprised form.

"Gah-!" The ghost yelped as the glowing pink net snared him and pulled him straight out of the air. I dared to hope then. I dared to think that maybe, just _maybe_ it was about to end, that the long nightmare was over and I could attain the revenge I'd been ruthlessly pursuing for months. I ran over, cannon already charging to put a round into him at point-blank range. At that range, that cannon would hurt even _him_. He looked up at me, huddled up in the net, green eyes terrified, utterly helpless before me. It was so out of character for him that I _almost_ considered waiting to fire, almost considered exchanging some harsh words with the ghost before finishing him off at last. That was a thought that got shoved back as utterly ludicrous. I had to take the shot while I had the chance, I doubted I would ever get such an opportunity again.

"Been waiting a _long_ time for this." I growled, taking aim through my weapon's scope, centering the weapon right between those panicked emerald eyes. Not that I could actually _miss_ him at that close range, the muzzle of my weapon no more than a foot from that terrified face. It was going to end today, I thought. He _would_ be destroyed, helpless and alone, unable to defend himself. Just like every person _he'd_ killed since his first rampage ten years ago. My father's death would be properly avenged, the city's destruction and all those deaths would be avenged, and Danny's memory would _finally_ be laid completely and truly to rest. I addressed Phantom one final time over the sound of my cannon charging. "Good _bye_ and **good** -"

I _would_ have destroyed the ghost had I finished that sentence. But if I had, it wouldn't have changed anything. How could I have known the forces _actually_ at work that day; the elaborate scheme already in action, a plot so thorough and complex as to put Vlad Masters and all his schemes, all his plans and plots to complete and utter shame? Two forms jumped in front of the trapped spook, panic written all over their young faces as they blocked my line of fire, risking their own necks to save that murderer. I took a startled step back, the mental shock of their appearance enough to cut right through my madness as I put up my weapon in surprise at their impossibly familiar faces.

"Valerie! **No**!"

" _Don't shoot_!"

I _had_ to have gone completely insane. It was simply _impossible_! I was delusional, I _had_ to be seeing things; there was just _no way_ **they** could **be** there! They were ten years _dead_ , blown to bits in that horrible accident! All in an instant, my reconstructed world view had been turned completely upside-down _again_ by their presence. They _had_ to be figments of my own madness, some sort of subconscious nagging guilt about raising a weapon against Danny. " **Sam** -? _Tucker_ -?" I squeaked out as my cannon powered down, momentarily forgotten, eyes going wide with disbelief as I looked between the teenaged goth and the dark-skinned computer geek in abject refusal to accept what I was seeing. "I-i-it's not _possible_! This is a **trick**! You **_can't_** be alive!"

"Wait, not alive?" Tucker yelped, lowering his arms now that the immediate threat of my blasting the ghost was apparently past. " _That's_ our future? I'm _definitely_ not taking the C.A.T!"

We're standing in the middle of a destroyed city, and he's worrying about some stupid _test_? I had to have _really_ gone leaping off the deep end now. Months in the wastelands running on little more than hatred and adrenaline, catching fitful bursts of sleep; it had to have caught up to me, finally become more than my mortal human self could handle. That was the only possible logical explanation. I was _completely_ nuts, and my broken subconscious had conjured these phantasms from my memory to try and ease my anguish. That _had_ to be it!

"The C.A.T.-? That was the _last_ time I saw you alive..." I murmured, the memory flashing to the front of my thoughts, followed immediately by those that followed after it as I glanced at Tucker and then to Sam, who was still standing protectively over the ensnared ghost. "The big explosion at the Nasty Burger, you, Tucker, Danny's family..."

All three of them outright _stared_ at me, identical looks of confusion plastered on their faces. They didn't _know_ what I was talking about? How could they _not_ know? How could you _forget_ being blown to pieces, incinerated in an explosion like that? How could you _forget_ **witnessing** something that horrific? I shook myself from my daze, remembering everything that Phantom had done in the ten years since then. All the death, all the pain, all the suffering, everything he _took_ from me. How _dare_ he play with my mind like this! I brought my weapon back to bear on Phantom.

"And it was _all **YOUR** FAULT_!"I shrieked, finger tightening on the trigger despite the two teens still standing by the ghost and well within the blast radius of my weapon. Thankfully- and I grit my teeth at this admission- I was again prevented from shooting the ghost by the timely, if painful interruption of the _real_ Phantom. A low-power green blast slammed into my unguarded flank, sending both me and my weapon flying several dozen feet into a long-empty front door. I could hear the monster's voice outside as I dug myself out of a pile of rubble.

"Actually, that was _me_." I heard the sly voice, apparently taunting the ghost I had netted, the impossible ghost from memory, from ten years ago. "And **you** , _eventually_."

I readied one of my other weapons from where I had landed, Phantom had apparently forgotten about me for the moment, which suited me just fine. _I don't know what's going on, but even if I **am** insane, I **know** _ you _have to be destroyed, Phantom!_ I growled to myself, watching the ghost addressing the three figments of my madness.

"Sam and Tucker! It's been a while. Ten years to be accurate." I heard the soft thud of Phantom's boots as he touched down near the stunned trio, heard the sound of energy being shot off, but no explosion.

He was _toying_ with them? With his own impossible past self? With the girl he had been so close to falling for years ago? _Well why not? That monster killed Danny, killed his **own** humanity! Why wouldn't he want to kill his girlfriend, too?_ Suddenly, it didn't matter what that other ghost was, or what the apparitions or delusions of Sam and Tucker were. Phantom was threatening them, and anything Phantom wanted to destroy was something I wanted to protect, if only to continue to oppose the monster in everything he did. I charged the small gun that had been hidden in my suit, lining up a shot.

"So, to what do I owe this little _blast_ from the past?" The specter strolled easily up to the apparently entrapped trio, amused by this strange turn of events. From my vantage, I saw him look briefly surprised before the look immediately dropped to his usual hateful scowl. "Clockwork? Meddling again-"

The ghost crouched slightly, obviously intent on blasting the trio back to whatever netherworld they came from, and I saw my opportune moment. I sent the charged blast at the ghost, scowling as the shot connected and sent him flying across the broken street into the building opposite me. I saw the younger Phantom gawking through the net as I stood there glowering at the monster as he got back up, waving aside the thick cloud of dust his impact had kicked into the air from the decrepit ruin. Guess the spook forgot I was there, given the surprised expression on his face while I idly blew the wisp of smoke from the steaming barrel of my gun. There'd be time to figure out what the heck was going on with the stunned trio of teens after Phantom was driven off or otherwise dealt with.

Unsurprisingly, Phantom leapt airborne to charge at me, but I was ready for him, already pulling the pins and throwing a pair of grenades. To my annoyance, he used some sort of weird variation on intangibility to avoid the explosives- my best guess is that sort of goo-like state allowed the weapons to pass harmlessly through his form without sacrificing his flight inertia. While the trio of teens watched with matching expressions of horror, I stood my ground, firing a rapid volley from my gun. But no, he was just too fast. He split himself into two Phantoms, one passing on the inside of my wide firing arc, the other keeping just ahead of the pink bullets. He closed the distance so fast that I hardly followed the movement before he was right in my face, a painful grip on my arm, silencing my weapon and effectively halting all my means of attacking him.

For a moment, I was frozen in fear, those hating red eyes drilling into mine. His look said it all, as clear as if he had spoken the words aloud: 'This is the end of it. You die today, and I'll enjoy bringing your useless life to a violent, messy end.' I distantly heard the sound of a net snapping somewhere behind Phantom, but it was quickly forgotten when the ghost yanked me up into the air by my already pained arm. My vision went black for a moment when he hauled back and punched me hard in the face. I couldn't do much else beyond yelp and grunt with discomfort and pain as I hit the ground hard enough that I bounced before I skidded painfully to a stop on the unforgiving asphalt.

I heard him land behind me as I struggled to get to my feet, knowing that this was it. I was pretty sure he'd managed to once again crack my ribs, and I wasn't going to be able to recover before he could finish the job. I managed to weakly glance over my shoulder at the spook, at my approaching demise, barely getting myself turned over in a futile effort to bring my battered weapon to bear on the ghost.

"I suppose out of respect for our past I **should** let _you_ live." He sneered, smiling with a cruel, wicked delight. He had to be relishing this moment, after six months of my constantly annoying him, of being a thorn in his side. He was finally going to be rid of me, probably the last remaining piece of his human past that still lived, still defied his murderous wishes. In an instant, that sly voice took an angry, dangerous edge as he reached down and grabbed the straps of my battle suit, roughly hefting me up like I weighed no more than a feather. "But that's _not_ how I **work**."

I stared down from where he held me aloft, stared down at those angry red eyes. The only thought that passed fitfully through my mind as I stared at those hateful crimson orbs was: _So this is it. See you soon, Daddy, Danny, everyone._ I expected to be blasted to bits, like Dash was. Maybe torn to pieces like he often threatened to do. Maybe mangled horribly like Vlad had implied about Danny's death at the hands of this demon. No, instead he simply put all his terrible strength into a whiplash-inducing throw, sending me screaming through the air toward what would have to be a painful, messy ending. That would be it then- my life would end in a gory splotch of red, splattered across the side of a building, or perhaps dashed to pieces from a terrible impact with the broken ground.

" _Valerie!_ "

I thought I was dreaming, honestly. A pleasant delusion conjured by my tormented psyche, refusing to accept the inevitable pain and certain demise that I had to be rapidly approaching. While I was flung helplessly toward a certain death by splattering, he was flying right for me, an intense look of determination on his youthful face. It was an expression I hadn't seen in over a decade, that innocent, intense, determined scowl, real emotion shining in those green eyes. I'd grown so accustomed to Phantom's pale complexion, demented attitude, and those hateful, piercing red eyes that it was really a shocker to see the original, untainted version again. The ghost had to fly at what was likely his top speed just to catch up to me, throwing his arms around my torso and holding on tight as he tried to blunt my impressive momentum.

I sputtered in surprise when I felt a strange chill come over me. The last time _that_ had happened was when Skulker dragged me through the wall of FentonWorks when we were _both_ wondering where Danny had disappeared to all those years ago. I felt that strange sensation as this younger Phantom and I plowed intangibly through first one wall, then another, and another, my momentum carrying us through the broken remains of an old house despite the ghost's obvious efforts to slow my fall. Despite his efforts though, we both crashed to the ground on the other side of the building, and I heard him grunt and yelp as we both skidded to a halt.

We laid there for a moment, both mildly stunned. His slender form hardly seemed to weigh anything draped over me, a concerned look on that young face. For the moment, all my injuries were of no consequence, though with how we'd landed, I was relatively certain my left arm was broken. Disbelieving that I lived yet, I finally looked at the ghost, and I mean really _looked_. I didn't know how it had happened, it was impossible by any and all logic I knew, but there was no explanation for it. It _was_ Danny, somehow from the past, some alternate universe, or some other impossibility I just could not conceive of. He had somehow appeared from nowhere, and just like ten years ago, I was an idiot and pointed a weapon at him. But despite my ill intent, he still risked his own neck to save mine, just like the hero he had been a decade ago, before I chased him away and to his death at... well, technically at his own hands, but I could still blame Vlad heartily for making it possible in the first place.

"You're... from the past, aren't you?" I finally found my voice as he got to his feet, that young face full of concern, free of the grief that haunted him when I last saw him. I could feel my grip on consciousness slipping, even though there were hundreds of questions and sentiments I wanted to blurt out. Between the mental shock of Danny's sudden appearance and my injuries, I had no endurance left. "Almost... forgot how _cute_ you were back then."

I don't recall what he said afterward, or anything that happened after I slipped into the unfeeling release of unconsciousness. I later discovered that FentonWorks _had_ finally fallen to the ground, a mass of brick and steel, though I never found out the details. I drifted in an out of consciousness, unsure of where I was or if Phantom- the twisted evil one, that is- had come for me to make sure I was finished. I dimly recall seeing brief flashes of a green and black sky, of a smooth voice calmly answering my delirious demands. I recall a most annoyingly persistent ticking, actually.

"Don't worry, everything is the way it's supposed to be." That smooth, calm voice said during one of my brief almost-wakeful periods. "Relax, get some rest. Your part isn't over yet."


	14. Out of Time

**Out of Time**  
"Time to fly, time to touch the sky.  
One voice alone, a haunting cry.  
One song, one star burning bright,  
May it carry me through darkest night."  
**-"The Soft Goodbye" - Celtic Woman  
**

"Danny, wait! Don't go-!" I sat bolt upright, adrenaline immediately conflicting with the pain from my left arm and my midsection. I was dreaming, I thought. Of Danny, of ten years ago, running away. Had all that been just a delusion? Some sort of twisted nightmare dredged from my memories?

"Well, you're awake I see, my dear."

I jerked my head to look at the source of the voice. "Wha-? Vlad Masters? What are you doing here?"

The old geezer chuckled dryly. "Perhaps the more accurate question would be what are _you_ doing _here_?"

I took in my surroundings as my adrenaline charge subsided. It seemed to be a rough subterranean cave, littered with equipment and a scattering of green and gold Packers memorabilia. Wait, how did I get from Amity Park to... wherever this was? I assumed it was Wisconsin, probably under the ruin of Vlad's castle.

"What happened?" I demanded. "How'd I get _here_?"

Vlad settled his thin frame into a chair. "Now that _would_ be the million dollar question, wouldn't it?"

I stared outright at the man. "You don't _know_?"

The ex-villain shook his head. "My equipment here indicated a ghost was nearby. I assumed it was Daniel come to tie up loose ends. But a moment later it was apparently gone, and I found _you_ unconscious and injured right in front of me. What on Earth _happened_ to you?"

"Phantom, that's what." I snapped, checking myself over to find that my ribs had been taped and my arm set in a makeshift cast. I decided to leave out my delusions of the younger Danny. I still wasn't sure what to make of that. "I don't know what happened after I blacked out."

Vlad raised an eyebrow at me. "That certainly _is_ strange, my dear. I would have thought that he would make certain he finished you off."

I decided to change the subject then. I didn't want to talk about Danny or Phantom or the fact that by all rights, I _should_ have been killed. I surveyed Vlad's crude accommodations, seeing I had been tucked away in an alcove, lending some slight semblance of privacy. "Nice place you've got here."

"Yes, well most of my available funding went to _you_ , Valerie. And your defense force, which I gather didn't fare well against Daniel?" Vlad eyed my battered suit. I slumped.

"We held him off for awhile." I frowned, thinking about all the people I knew who had met their demise at the ghost's hands. "The first time ten years ago we actually _could_ damage him. The second time we managed it, we drove him off. The third time... he was just so powerful. It was all the Patrol could _do_ to just hold him off until everyone was safe under the shield. And then the fourth time..." I clamped my eyes shut at the memory of that dark day. Six months later and I could still recall every moment of that awful event, the day Amity Park died.

"Yes, the third time was about when I lost contact with you, hm?" Vlad asked.

"Yeah. That shield stopped him... until six months ago, but he pretty much destroyed everything outside the barrier. It was like a siege, all communication was cut off." My frown deepened.

"And then he disappeared for awhile, correct?" Vlad grinned without humor. "He must have been trying to find me."

"How the heck do you know that?" I raised an eyebrow at the man, while trying to fend off the return of my earlier exhaustion.

"The castle was _not_ my only residence." Vlad sighed. "I had a rather impressive vacation house in Colorado. I kept some of my more unusual research there."

"Unusual research?" I really didn't like the sound of that. Coming from him, "unusual" could mean just about anything, and most of it unpleasant I would bet.

"Mm. Yes. A cloning project, actually. It never _went_ very far, but I still had a lot of it there. Imagine my surprise to wake up one morning and find the computers there no longer reporting. I can only guess that Daniel destroyed it like he did my castle." Vlad explained, deriving some minor amusement from my absolutely disgusted expression. "And Madison not two miles from here was blown to pieces shortly thereafter."

I raised an eyebrow at the man, stifling a tired yawn. "Wait, Phantom came here, but didn't find you?"

"He didn't check the ruins of my castle. You see, I took _great_ care to ensure that from outside, it looks as though these ruins haven't been inhabited for _years_. Daniel would know and likely assume with my wealth I would have rebuilt or moved elsewhere." Vlad's gaze swept his simple quarters. "But you ought to get some rest. To be frankly blunt, my dear, you looked half-dead when I found you."

I didn't want to admit it, but between the mental shocks and my injuries, coupled with the fact I hadn't been able to eat much or very well in six months, I had very little stamina left. I suspect that had I not been shocked out of my insane state of mind by whatever the heck had happened in that last fight, I probably _would_ have run myself to death from sheer exhaustion. A long nap and food sounded like absolute paradise, even if it meant accepting more charity from a man I didn't particularly like. "Rest... yeah. That's probably a good idea."

Vlad helped me settle back against a pile of old pillows. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to shout." With that, he pulled a rough curtain over my alcove. I confess that I passed out from exhaustion almost before he finished doing so. Heck, I didn't just fall asleep, I was pretty much dead to the world, a marked contrast to how lightly I usually slept, especially since the shield fell. Even while I slept, I worried about Phantom. I had been snapped out of insanity, but the ghost still had to be on the loose in Amity Park, and my revenge was still unfulfilled. Then there was also the unresolved issue of that past-Phantom. What _was_ he? Or those two teens that looked like Sam and Tucker ripped right out of my freshman yearbook? My dreams yielded no answers to these strange questions.

I awoke some time later to voices in the cave. I was stiff and groggy, I had probably been asleep for a number of hours, likely the most sleep I'd gotten in months. When I was prowling the ruins, I could only catnap, snatching a few minutes of sleep here and there, fitful and largely useless in refreshing my tired body. That lack was taking its vengeance on me now as I slowly swam back to consciousness, struggling to make out the words being spoken beyond the curtain. One voice I knew had to be Vlad's; the other wasn't so obvious, the voice hovered just on the edge of recognition in my halfway conscious state.

"The Ghost Gauntlets? Yes, I still have them. Why do you ask?"

"Do I _look_ 24 years old?" Came the tart reply, tinged with sarcasm. "It's a long story. I'm from ten years in the past, I ended up here because of a ghost named Clockwork."

 _No... It can't be him, can it?_ That second voice finally triggered my memory at the mention of ten years ago and I listened to the conversation, hardly daring to breathe. I wasn't delusional in that last fight? Danny really _had_ come from the past, from a time before it all went down the toilet?

"I see." Vlad's tone carried a slightly surprised edge to it. "And what do you have in mind?"

"I ran into myself." Danny retorted, his tone clearly indicating he was talking about Phantom. "He took my time medallion and did something with it and now I can't remove it, so I can't go back to my time."

"Is that so?" I listened to Vlad rummaging around, apparently looking for the aforementioned devices. I stayed hidden in that little alcove, the ex-villain probably thought I was still sleeping, which suited me just fine. I peered around the curtain, biting back a gasp at the sight of Danny standing there in ghost form, a worried look on his face. For whatever reason, I decided not to show myself. I don't think I was ready to confront this specter of my past, not yet.

The ghost clenched a fist, obviously agitated. "I _need_ to get back there, Vlad. He somehow went back in time. I've got to stop him. If I don't, then everyone will-!" He looked pained by the incomplete thought. The explosion, the deaths of everyone he cared for. This past-Phantom knew about what happened? Maybe Vlad had explained it while I was still asleep.

I felt my eyebrows shoot up at that horrible thought. Phantom, ten years in the past? Before the explosion? Before the Patrol? That monster, free to roam an utterly _defenseless_ city? I didn't even want to _think_ of the implications of the time travel, but it wouldn't take an idiot to realize that this was extremely bad news. Amity Park of ten years ago wouldn't stand a chance! I could guess by events that Danny must have lost that last fight back in Amity Park, he had to know that Phantom was more powerful than he was, yet he was still determined to fight to protect his friends. That determination was absolutely inspiring, a balm on my weary soul.

I watched Vlad preparing the metallic gloves from where I was hidden. "So you're saying there's a medallion lodged within you, keeping you _rooted_ in this time period?" He sounded mildly stunned or disbelieving as he checked the gauntlets over.

"Yes, and I can't reach it." Danny tapped his hand briefly over his chest, presumably where this medallion thing was. He sounded annoyed and frustrated by the fact, his entire stance radiating his intense urge to be gone from this time. I could only imagine what a shock it had to be, coming from the relative calm of ten years ago to the wasteland of the present. I was at least able to adjust to the gradual descent into ruin, it must have been a hammer blow to Danny's conscience to know that in some sick and twisted way, this ruin was _his_ fault.

Danny walked over to Vlad, who now had both the gloves ready for this operation. "But I'm guessing if you could reach into me and _rip_ out my humanity-" The ghost paused then, a disgusted look on his face, tone shifting to match. "Which, by the way sounds **_totally_** gross-" His tone returned to its serious state after making that _vital_ statement. "-you can get the medallion out too. Then I'll pop back to _my_ present like Tucker and Sam did."

Vlad raised his hands, the Ghost Gauntlets powering on and surrounded with a sickly green aura. The old man's tone carried the barest trace of madness as he stepped toward Danny. "Or I could just _destroy_ you **now** and prevent this future." The painful looking claws protruded from the fingertips of the metal gloves. "Didn't think of _that_ , did you?"

I should have known. Once a villain, _always_ a villain. Not that I could blame Vlad. It _would_ probably be easier to just take out Danny now, before he could become the monster that caused so much damage. But I had a gut feeling that it wouldn't change anything; besides, this Danny might not end up like the Danny I knew. He now knew what would happen because of the exam, he knew about the explosion and events leading to Phantom's creation. Heck, he said outright he wanted to _stop_ his evil 24 year old self.

Vlad raised one arm, swiping the gauntlet at Danny before the ghost could respond. I reacted out of reflex, I admit. Seeing that young innocent face, seeing Danny being threatened like that set off my guilt from ten years ago and spurred me into action. In an instant I was on my feet and bodily tackling the old man with an angry shout. "Don't you _dare_ , you crazy old fruit loop!"

Neither of them were expecting my appearance, barreling out of the alcove and knocking Vlad to the ground. His swing thankfully only clipped Danny's arm, though the teen yelped long and loud with pain from the claws biting through his jumpsuit, etching nasty looking green gashes into the flesh. Or... whatever ghosts are made of, I guess.

After that initial moment of confusion ended, I glared daggers at Vlad, who was sporting a nasty bruise on his face. I didn't even _remember_ punching him, but I apparently managed to knock the guy unconscious, so I climbed back to my feet, my good arm clutching at my aching ribs. Danny was clutching his injured arm, gawking at me.

"Valerie-?" He squeaked through clenched teeth, surprise clear in his voice despite the lingering ache from his injury. "What-? How-?"

"Are you okay?" I cut through his flabbergasted questions, gradually straightening as the ache from my ribs subsided.

"Uh... yeah. It's not serious, it just stings." Danny rubbed the injury absently, confusion all over his face. "You saved me... but why?"

"Now we're even." I managed a wry smirk. God, it was awkward. What do you say when you come face-to-face with your past? What can you say across that impossible gap of ten years of suffering? "So... you're _really_ from the past then? From before the accident?"

The ghost nodded. "How many times do I have to explain it?" He glanced at the unconscious ex-villain. "Look, Valerie, thanks for stopping him, but I _have_ to get back."

I nodded slightly, placing one hand on my hip. "Right. It's real noble that you want to go fight Phantom, but think about it. He beat you the last time, right?"

My words stung him, I could see that. He winced, green eyes downcast. "I don't care, I've got to try. I can't just let him win!"

"Trust me, Danny." I walked over to him. Geez, it was weird, having to look _down_. "I've been fighting him for _years_ now, you've only tangled with him _once_. If you go back the way you are, you're _not_ going to change anything."

The use of his name seemed to mildly surprise him, he finally looked up and met my gaze. " _You_ said my name? That's a first... usually it's-" His voice shifted into a passable mockery of how I acted ten years ago. "'Where's the ghost-kid?' and 'I'm gonna destroy that ghost-boy!'"

Now I couldn't meet his gaze. I probably wouldn't get another chance like this, no sense in lying. "Yeah, about that." I began slowly. "Danny, you told me _everything_. The day after the explosion, you told me your secret."

"Wha-?" Danny yelped. "Then you know-"

I nodded, slightly amused in a dark sort of way at the reverse of that confession ten years ago. "Yeah, I know that you're actually Danny Fenton, half ghost and one of the _good_ guys." I felt my old guilt welling up in the face of that earnest look of surprise. "And... Danny, I'm sorry."

"Eh... there's no reason to- I mean I didn't take it personally or anyth-" Danny stammered. It was heart-wrenching how familiar and yet how alien his mannerisms seemed after ten years of the nightmare.

"Not about that." I sat down, mindful of my ribs. "About how I reacted when you told me. I chased you off, caused this all to happen."

"Oh." Danny frowned as it sank in what I was telling him. That frown turned into a determined glare. "I _won't_ let it happen, no matter what. I promise."

He meant it too, I could see that clearly in his expression. He was ready and willing to go and take on my nightmare, all by himself. I wanted desperately to help him, but even if I had some way to go back in time ten years, what _could_ I do? I was injured, my weapons were proven to be barely effective on Phantom. But from what little I could gather from that last fight, Danny wasn't much better equipped to fight that monster either. I got up and walked across the room, taking a moment to kneel next to the unconscious Vlad and tug the Ghost Gauntlets off his thin hands, studying the devices.

"Valerie-?" Danny asked.

"What? You think I'm gonna let this old nut handle getting rid of that medallion thing?" I inquired as I busied myself to rummaging through the relatively sparse cavern and my own supplies. " _I'll_ do it, but not until you're prepared to take that monster on."

"There's no time!" Danny protested, clearly anxious to be away. "If I don't get back, Sam and Tucker and everyone will- ACK!"

He was cut off by a slender silver and green band flying across the room and landing over his head. "Mm-hmm. You're time traveling, right? So in theory, don't you have plenty of time to prepare before you go back?"

"The Specter Deflector-?" He grabbed the inactive device from where it landed over his silvery hair. "How'd you get it-?"

I tossed a Fenton Thermos in the air idly. "I was in charge of the defenses." I offered by way of explanation, tossing the thermos to the young ghost. "I ended up with most of the stuff in your parents' lab."

Danny stared at me as I continued to rummage through equipment. "It's been really bad for you, hasn't it?" He broke the awkward silence, green eyes downcast.

I paused, feeling a ghost of my hatred flare up. "Let's just say you aren't the _only_ one who lost everything."

"Wow... Valerie, I'm sorry." Danny shuffled his feet, obviously finding the conversation awkward. What _do_ you say across that ten year gap, in the absence of more pressing dangers and threats? What _could_ you say, after learning that terrible truth? Sure, I had my guilt that I had chased him off and caused him to turn into that hateful demon, but he came from the past and discovered he himself _was_ that demon. I don't think I could live with myself if I met my future and found out something like that. "I mean, it is my fault. I _won't_ let it happen again."

I found an old backpack amid the clutter and stuffed whatever gadgets I thought would help into it. "You didn't know what was going to happen. I think most anybody with your powers and all the stress would have been tempted to do the same thing." I began slowly, not quite believing what I was admitting to this past incarnation of the ghost. "The C.A.T. was a big deal... heck, with my ghost hunting, I was worried about _my_ score, too."

"I'm guessing your score didn't matter in the end." Danny observed dryly as I walked back over with the pack. Even I had to grin slightly at his tone.

"Guess not. How's that arm?" I set the pack down and peered down at Danny.

"It's fine!" The teen insisted, wincing slightly as he crossed his arms to emphasize the fact he was in _no_ need of medical attention. I admit I suddenly felt old, nagging my former classmate from my vantage of ten years older than he was.

"Yeah, right." I was already fishing through my stuff for my first aid kit. "With all that noise? Do I _look_ stupid? Let me get a look at it."

I didn't have much left in my kit, half a roll of gauze and a little bit of disinfectant spray, but I figured it would be enough. Danny actually looked mildly weirded out by the demand. I noticed the blush on his face. "Um... it's kinda a one-piece jumpsuit-"

I raised an eyebrow at the ghost's embarrassed expression. Only he would be fretting about something as silly as that in the present situation. "Danny, you dropped your pants in front of the _entire_ school." I had to smirk as the reminder made him blush more. He really did look adorable when he was flush with embarrassment. And to be honest, it felt absolutely _wonderful_ to be remembering such silly, trivial things from the past, all the memories I kept locked away so that I could fight Phantom without being hindered by those pleasant thoughts. "You don't have to take the suit off, just shrug out of that sleeve so I can get at that gash."

I watched with a sort of bemused smile as Danny grumbled but complied, peeling his left glove off and partly unzipping the front of his black jumpsuit. Funny, I never noticed it had a zipper before. I guess it was well-hidden against the black spandex. He winced as he tugged his injured arm from the sleeve of his jumpsuit, revealing the thin green wounds. I grabbed my first aid gear and sat next to him to start on the injury. "Um... This might sting." I frowned as I sprayed a cleaning cloth with the disinfectant. Could a ghost even get an infection? This was my first time tending a wounded ghost, so I really didn't know.

I gingerly grabbed Danny's arm to hold him still while I cleaned the gashes, still slightly in shock from the impossibility of it all. I heard him take a few hissing breaths, I guess the disinfectant did sting. But he kept still, though I could feel the lean muscles in his arm tensed up while I mopped the green... blood? What is that stuff anyway? Ectoplasm or something? In any case, after a minute of careful scrubbing I got most of the gunk cleaned away as we sat there in awkward silence.

"It doesn't look like it's very deep." I noted as I grabbed the gauze and started wrapping Danny's arm.

"Wow... when'd you get so good at first aid?" Danny asked, surprised. I glanced at his face and noted again that intense expression of his.

"Six months in the wasteland." I replied simply. "Without a lot of help, and playing tag with that _monster_." I couldn't keep all of my anger out of that statement.

"Oh."

We were interrupted by Vlad's groan as the man returned to consciousness. He sat up slowly, one hand immediately massaging his impressively bruised face. "Ooh... Valerie, I didn't realize you were up."

Danny and I both shot glares at the ex-villain, who got an almost amusingly surprised look on his face upon realizing he was unarmed and in the company of two people who were extremely displeased with him. "Ah... and... Daniel. So glad you two are getting along..."

"Cut it out, Masters." I growled. "I'll take care of Danny. You go and... I dunno. Whatever it is you do by yourself in here."

"Got a cat yet?" Danny quipped. Vlad's eyebrow twitched at the remark, leaving me to wonder just how intense the rivalry had been between the two years ago.

"I _don't_ want a _cat_!" Vlad growled under his breath before he turned to me with a sympathetic expression. "Honestly, Valerie, _think_ about it! With your ghost hunting skills as refined as they are, just imagine! This entire awful chain of events could be prevented entirely. He can't become that evil version you hate if he's... dealt with... while he's vulnerable."

Danny had one eyebrow raised at the ex-villain's pitch. He had a slight concern in his expression as he glanced from Vlad to me, likely wondering if I would suddenly agree to Vlad's harebrained idea. It wouldn't be the first time I'd tried to kill him after all. "Could you stop talking about me like I'm not even here?"

Maybe even just a few days ago, I would have thought along the same lines as Vlad, that killing this past-Danny would change the present. Now that I was back from my six-month vacation from sanity, I could think clearly. It was just like ten years ago, before I knew that the boy I liked was dead and the monster was but a pale shadow. I couldn't even consider raising a weapon against him. Unlike that monster, this really _was_ Danny, whole and determined to do the right thing. I ignored Vlad while I finished wrapping Danny's arm. "There, that should do it."

"Uh... thanks." Danny flexed his arm once or twice, testing the bandage briefly before he tugged his jumpsuit back on.

"As for _you_ , Vlad." I spun to address the man. "You're going to tell me how to use these gauntlets so I can send Danny back to the past."

"Are you insane, Valerie?" Vlad stared at me, well aware of my long-standing hatred for Phantom. "Suppose Daniel goes back in time and fights his present-day self. Do you _really_ think he can change the course of history?"

I glanced at Danny, who was back on his feet and shooting Vlad all sorts of dirty looks. It _was_ a valid question. The odds were certainly poor, if that last fight had been any indication. Heck, it could even end up _worse_ , with Phantom rampaging in the city long before the Patrol's existence, long before my abilities were so finely honed. Then again, how much worse _could_ it be? The city was gone, I was alone, and the few survivors were scattered to the wind. The only way it could be worse that I could think of was that I could end up dead. Oddly enough, that didn't actually seem much worse in my mind. But there _was_ a chance things could change for the better. Danny swore to me that he wouldn't let this terrible world come to pass.

The realization hit me so hard it was nearly a physical blow. I _believed_ him; no, I believed **_in_** him, in his promise. No matter what the results of his pending battle would be, there was no way he would let himself repeat the chain of events that ruined the world. If only I had believed in him ten years ago, then none of this would have happened.

I straightened as I stared Vlad Masters directly in the eyes, surprised to myself at how certain I sounded. "Yes. Yes, I do. I believe Danny can change the past, and that he _will_."

Vlad opened his mouth to say something, but shut it with an audible click as it became apparent that I was not changing my mind. I'm sure that if he still had his ghost powers, he would have done what he wanted with the situation; but in his weakened state, it was obvious that he couldn't fight both Danny and I, even with my injuries handicapping me. The billionaire slumped, almost seeming to deflate. "Very well."

Danny gawked at me, mouth hanging open slightly. Heh, I suppose he really didn't expect that from the girl who used to hunt him relentlessly. I guess the day was full of surprises all around. I slid the Ghost Gauntlets on, looking over the clunky metallic gloves.

The operation was actually remarkably simple once Vlad explained how the gloves worked and what I would need to do. We lacked the equipment to properly operate, but Danny did an admirable job of bracing himself to go under the claw without any anesthesia. I will admit, it was profoundly weird and more than a little gross or disturbing to use the gloves to reach _into_ Danny's chest. Similar and yet not to what intangibility had felt like the very few times I had experienced it. Danny cringed, but remained conscious and largely still as I got hold of the strange little medallion and wrestled it free.

"Got it-!" I held the medallion for just a second, quickly thrusting it into Danny's hands. He caught it, slightly dazed while I quickly tucked the gauntlets into the pack with the other equipment. Danny took the pack and slid it over his shoulders, already shaking off the daze and apparently mentally revving up for the battle he would be fighting soon. Vlad muttered something and excused himself, leaving the two of us alone on the brink of goodbye. At least the ex-villain had the decency to know when to just give it up.

"I guess this is it." Danny looked up at me, then down at the medallion in his hand. "Thanks for your help, Valerie. I mean it."

"Before you go, Danny..." I frowned, pondering how best to word what I wanted to say. "Don't tell me your secret. Not yet at least. It's just... Gah, how do I put it? Be careful about it or something. I know I freaked out but... give me a little time. I'll come around pretty quick."

Danny nodded slightly. "I'll remember that. I'll stop him though. I _will_ change all this. Somehow." He lifted into the air, floating so we were eye-to-eye.

There were no more words. I threw my arms around Danny in a tight hug, smiling slightly through my sudden melancholy when I felt his cool arms return the gesture. "God, I'm going to miss you, Danny. So much."

I heard the clink of the medallion hitting the ground, and saw a strange blue aura encompass Danny's form. "Hey, it's not like we're never going to see each other again. I'll see you ten years from when I get back... and I _won't_ be evil."

With that, he was gone, vanished into thin air.


	15. Into the Future

**Finale: Into the Future**  
"I had a dream last night  
That you came to me on silver wings of light  
I flew away with you in the painted sky  
And I woke up wondering what was real  
Is it what you see and touch or what you feel"  
_-"You're Still Here" - Faith Hill_ **  
**

That was it. I stood there staring at the spot Danny had occupied just a moment prior. Now what? I was left in a daze as events caught up to me once the moment had passed. Vlad hobbled back into the room, a mildly annoyed look on his face.

"I certainly hope you're happy, Miss Grey." He stated flatly. "Your gamble has _obviously_ failed."

"What happened to your turning over a new leaf and all that, Vlad?" I shot back at the billionaire. "I thought you saw the error of your ways and all that. If you're so hot for Danny's mom, why'd you try to kill him?"

Vlad sighed, taking a seat. "I was going to kill the boy to _save_ her. Don't you see? If Daniel was eliminated before the explosion, Maddie would still be alive. She wouldn't have been there when that sauce detonated."

I snorted at the poor excuse. "Uh-huh. You know that _how_? And how are you so sure that Danny failed?"

Vlad gestured at the cavern. " _Think_ about it, Valerie. The moment Daniel departed the present and returned to the past, that battle was _decided_. That battle has had to be over for _ten years_ now. Were he successful in preventing the explosion, it should stand to reason that we would not even be _having_ this discussion. History would have changed the instant he left."

His reasoning was valid, I'll admit. But I didn't want to believe that my faith had been misplaced. After all, time travel was supposedly impossible in the first place. How could either he or I predict its implications? How could either of us know the forces actually at work?

"You don't know that for sure." I snapped, scooping up the discarded medallion and my gear as I started for the dimly lit entrance to the cave. "I'm _out_ of here."

Vlad didn't say anything as I stormed out into the grey afternoon. He hadn't lied- the area surrounding the castle looked little better than Amity Park, scorched and shattered. Truth be told, I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do now. I was in a daze still on the heels of the incredible events of the day, and confused and concerned by the mysteries that remained. First and foremost: Did I make the right choice? Was Danny able to change his past, or was the entire concept little more than a pipe dream? Would I ever even be able to _know_ what the results would be? I was also baffled by how I had come to be in Wisconsin. I certainly hadn't flown _myself_ all that distance while unconscious, which meant that someone _else_ dragged me there. Who? And why? It couldn't have been Danny from the past, given he apparently found his way to Vlad's place well _after_ I had arrived.

The answers to all those questions eluded me as I stalked my way through the rubble and into the ailing forest still surrounding the place. I suppose it was inevitable where I wound up after several minutes of aimlessly wandering like a lost soul. A few trees had toppled since my last visit years ago, and lay rotting in the clearing. A massive old maple had fallen against the backside of the rock formation, and moss now carpeted the dead branches, drooping over the top of the natural stone pillar to shade the grave like a green curtain. The flowers were gone and the grass had faded to a brown hue; winter was on its way.

I thought I saw movement beyond the mossy curtain as I approached the monument. I'm not sure if I was merely seeing things, just a trick of the light as the breeze rustled the foliage. There was no one there as I slipped within the dim shelter formed by the fallen tree and knelt carefully next to the earthen mound, just like I had eight years ago, the day I had learned the awful fate that had befallen my friend. Time had not been entirely kind to Danny's grave. The wooden cross was cracked and faded from exposure to the elements, the white scrap of bloodstained cloth lashed at the joint now little more than a filthy threadbare rag. A fine layer of grit had blown into the crevices of the stones and pale lichens now colored the rock several pastel shades of yellow and green.

I was at a loss. I needed to rest and by all rights I ought to have been bedridden for at least a week; but I was restless, anxious with the simple fact of not _knowing_ what happened after Danny disappeared. Or technically before, given the entire time travel thing. I carefully brushed away the fine layer of dust that had begun to gather on the plastic covering of that old photograph, contemplating my options while held with a sort of flat melancholy.

"What am I gonna do?" I mused aloud, addressing the grave. "Man, it seems impossible, you from the past... alive and well."

I shivered as the cold breeze whipped through the clearing, causing the branches overhead to creak ominously, rustling the sparse foliage. The daylight dimmed over the clearing, I attributed it to a passing cloud overhead. But for just an instant, I thought I saw something in the low light, either a delusion or trick of the watery shadows.

_Don't worry._

I whirled, adrenaline surging through me as I instinctively grabbed for one of my weapons. I crouched carefully, intensely sweeping the immediate area for danger. I found nothing however, and began to chide myself for being entirely too paranoid. Years of tangling with Phantom and six months alone in the wastelands had refined my paranoia to a razor sharp edge, I had to be jumping at shadows, my nerves still absolutely frayed from the events of the past day or so. It was likely just the sound of that chill wind through the trees.

I remained at the grave, paying my respects for another hour or so, talking to the air and telling the unresponsive mound about everything that had happened since my last visit. About the Patrol's valiant efforts, about the shield, about the end of Amity Park, about my father's death, and even about Vlad's assistance and especially about the time travel.

"Do you remember that? Do you remember seeing all this, and your promise?" I sighed. "Nothing's changed... what if nothing _could_ change?"

I shook my head, trying to dispel those dark thoughts. It had to be that I just didn't understand how time travel functioned, that had to be it. Danny _had_ to win, I couldn't bear the thought of all that effort being in vain, being a useless waste of time. Phantom couldn't be right that it was simply impossible for the good guys to win. I refused to believe that. I cast one more long glance over Danny's grave before I could tear myself away. I had to go back, Amity Park still needed its number one ghost hunter, regardless of the fact the city lay in broken ruins. Phantom was out of the picture for the time being, but if the past wasn't changed, then it was quite possible he would be back, and more powerful than ever.

With my injuries, the trip took far longer than I would have liked. I could only handle the rigors of long-distance flight for a few hours at a time before my exhaustion reared its ugly head and sent me to ground while there was still plenty of daylight. On the plus side though, I found pockets of unharmed civilization where I was granted food and comfortable lodging after explaining I was from the Amity Park Ghost Patrol. Plenty of places had escaped Phantom's wrath, but I think everyone the world over knew _of_ the catastrophe. My pride was admittedly wounded from accepting charity, but common sense kept me from refusing. A few days of real food and a comfortable bed did wonders for my condition, and I was feeling almost good as new when I reached the outskirts of the ruins two weeks later.

The wasteland didn't look any _worse_ than when I had last seen it, so I was able to assume that Phantom had yet to reappear. I even saw a few thin columns of smoke, signs of civilization that had been conspicuously absent in the first six months following the fall of the shield. I angled my sled toward the nearest of these, finding the most sizeable camp of survivors I had yet seen. They had built several rough shelters from the rubble, all out in the open instead of deep within the ruined hulls of destroyed buildings. The encampment appeared fairly active as I made my approach, and I caught several flashes of black and orange Patrol uniforms in the crowd. It was encouraging to know that there _was_ still life in the ruin, and that it was making its first feeble efforts at rebuilding a shattered society.

A few Patrol members ran forward as I touched down at the edge of the encampment, weapons ready, but their expressions showing surprise and relief.

"Valerie!" I saw Paulina shove her way through the small crowd of onlookers. "You're alive! We thought you were killed!"

"You made it?" I yelped as the Latina gave me a friendly hug. "How many people are here?"

"Mm... well since nobody has seen Phantom in awhile, we're starting to regroup." Paulina glanced around at the crowd. "I think we've got about three hundred survivors here. What happened?"

I paused, debating sharing the seemingly impossible events with everyone. I shot Paulina a look that clearly conveyed I had more to tell her when we weren't surrounded by other people, people who really didn't need to know the unbelievable details of events. "I _think_ Phantom may be gone. At least for awhile."

That declaration sent a wave of whispers and speculation through the crowd. These were people who had been living in conditions worse than poverty, people who had lived in abject fear since their world was so violently turned upside down. The idea that the nightmare might be over, that they could start to shed that terror was a vastly comforting one. Paulina escorted me to one of the huts, apparently the new headquarters for what remained of the Patrol, given the salvaged equipment and armory inside the rough walls. She slid the door shut as I took a seat on a small boulder that served apparently as a bench.

"So Valerie, is it true?" She leaned easily on the wall, her uniform easily more worn out than mine. "He's gone?"

"I don't really know." I shrugged as I launched into the tale of that impossible blast from the past. The Latina's eyes got progressively wider as I told her what happened. I swear her jaw nearly hit the ground when I told her about Danny, Sam, and Tucker, that I ended up helping the younger ghost go back to the past. Her face went pale beneath her complexion when I told her that he went back to try and change history, and to stop Phantom, who had gone back in time ten years.

"Is that even possible?" She finally found her voice after working her jaw for several seconds trying to produce a coherent statement. "Danny was _here_? The old ghost-boy was _here_?"

"Apparently so. I saw all three of them with my own eyes." I tossed the medallion to Paulina, and she caught it and looked at the strange trinket. "That's the medallion I had to help him get rid of."

"Maybe we can figure out how it works and go help?" Paulina piped up as she flipped the thing over in her palm, studying the strange medallion. "We could save him!"

I shook my head. "Already thought of that. I can't for the life of me guess _how_ it works. Just that when Danny dropped it, he disappeared. I don't think it does the time travel- I think it just allowed it... I think maybe it was some sort of way to get back to where... when he's from."

"I hope it works... or work _ed_ out." Paulina frowned in thought as she handed the medallion back to me.

"You and me both."

The camp continued to grow as more survivors dug out of their hiding places and Phantom continued to remain absent. People trickled in daily, either singly or in small groups, a ragged band of people always looking skyward for that airborne shadow. A surprising number of Patrol members had survived, and we were able to form a relatively effective airborne search effort, helping locate food and water for the survivors. It seemed almost surreal, rebuilding society almost entirely from scratch. Slowly new structures began to rise, and even some heavy equipment was salvaged. Within about a month, an area several acres wide had been cleared of rubble as civilization haltingly began to lay down new roots.

I got my first information as to how Danny had fared ten years ago from an unexpected source. My arm and ribs had been declared fully healed only a few days prior, and I was flying a patrol, looking for survivors and salvageable materiel. The wind was cool on my face, pressing the medallion that now hung around my neck against my chest. I'm not sure why I had taken to wearing it, almost as if it was a good luck charm. It was certainly the most noteworthy memento that proved to me that my strange encounter with Danny was not just a very thorough delusion.

I guided my battered sled to ground near what looked to be a likely den of survivors, only realizing something strange was going on when I landed and saw the people. Five or six people, one of them an elderly man, three young kids, and one teenage boy who looked about high school age. They all stood frozen, as if someone had taken a picture of the scene, freezing the image mid-motion. I realized it was also strangely quiet as I walked over, waving a hand in front of the man's face. There was no reaction, no movement. It was most unsettling, almost as if time itself had stopped.

My ghost radar beeped, and fearing the absolute worst, I was on board my jet sled and heading in the direction it dictated, weapon ready. What I would find was not the worst scenario I could imagine, that of course being Phantom's return. No, what I would find was nearly the exact opposite. I crested a ridge formed of fallen skyscrapers and saw two figures. One vanished in a flash of blue light before I got there and I didn't get a good look at it. The other I recognized as I closed the distance, the blackened metal and green flames distinct despite the readily apparent revisions to the powered armor. I absently realized there was background noise again, the ever-present creaking of settling wreckage, the wind whipping through the canyons and valleys of rubble.

"Skulker? Technus?" I growled as I flew low, slowing to a stop several feet from the big ghost-pair. Oddly enough, no weapons were pointed at me, both faces cracking into matching grins when the spooks realized it was me.

"Just the human we were looking for." Skulker nodded. "Clockwork was right that you would come here."

"You were looking for me?" I demanded, though I lowered my own weapon when it became apparent that they weren't looking for a fight. "Who the heck is Clockwork? What's going on?"

Technus raised one eyebrow from his position in the chestplate of the armor. "You didn't know? Clockwork sent that weaker Phantom back in time. And he's the one who made that shiny time medallion you're wearing."

One hand went to the medallion I was wearing in surprise. Now that I thought about it, I did vaguely recall Danny mentioning a Clockwork to Vlad. "Okay, right. So _why_ are you looking for me?" I glared at Skulker's face. "Come to start hunting me now that Phantom's missing?"

"Oh, he's more than just missing, hunter girl!" Technus crowed. "He got totally schooled, completely beat down, and-"

"What are you _talking_ about?" I shrieked, effectively shutting Technus up. "How do you know? Did Danny win? Tell me!"

The pair floated back a few feet to put some distance between us, as I had gotten right in their faces, very nearly grabbing those green conduits to yank Skulker to my level while making my demands. There's something mildly funny about a big, heavily armed power armor with both hands up in a placating manner. "That's why we were looking for you." Skulker stated. "And Clockwork agreed to assist in locating you."

"Better watch that temper of yours, hunter girl." Technus warned, earning a dirty look from me.

"As I was saying, Clockwork spread word in the Ghost Zone that Phantom was beaten ten years in the past, and that he was trapped in one of those _annoying_ thermos devices." Skulker explained efficiently. I felt my jaw drop as he continued. "And to celebrate, the entire Ghost Zone has agreed to a truce."

" _That_ doesn't happen often!" Technus chipped in. "The only other truce we all stick to is the Christmas one!"

"Phantom's... gone?" Obviously I was still processing that wonderful news, digesting what those two little words meant. Phantom was gone? Forever? My ten-year battle was over? "Danny won? He changed the past? But... shouldn't the present have changed?"

"I know nothing of that. Time is Clockwork's business." Skulker scoffed before flashing one of those steely grins of his. "Perhaps you'll get the chance to meet him at the party."

The entire encounter was dizzying, really. "Party? What?"

"That was why we were looking for you." Skulker kept most of the exasperation from his voice, while he reached into some hidden compartment in his armor. My grip tightened on my gun until I saw he wasn't going for a weapon, the big ghost was holding what looked to be a white envelope.

"Whenever there's a truce, we all have a big party and 'get funky'!" Technus declared sagely as Skulker handed me the envelope.

"Funky... right." I flipped the envelope over while keeping one eye on the ghosts. The envelope was addressed simply to "The Huntress" in a surprisingly elegant script, held neatly shut with a green wax seal imprinted with a dragon design. With one eyebrow quirked I slit the thing open and pulled out the contents: A folded sheet of paper with more of that concise handwriting. "'You are hereby cordially invited to attend a grand ball held in celebration of the end of the ghost-boy's reign of terror. We shall remember those who fell before Phantom, and there shall be feasting and merriment to celebrate his defeat. The gala shall be held one week from today at the Mattingly estate. Signed, Dora Mattingly.' ... Why are a bunch of ghosts inviting me to a party?"

"Are you coming?" Technus inquired after I was done skimming the neatly-written invitation.

I frowned. The ghosts were inviting _me_ , a ghost hunter and a human to a party? What had _happened_ in the Ghost Zone to merit an apparently rare truce among the ghosts? My paranoia yelled that it had to be a trap, but for once, curiosity won out. If I wanted to know the full extent of what Phantom had done, then there was no better way than to _ask_ the ghosts themselves. And as Skulker had said, maybe I could meet this Clockwork guy and get the details on Danny's battle ten years ago. "I... guess I'll go. How the heck do I get to this Mattingly estate, anyway?"

"There will be an escort from the Wisconsin portal to the castle." Skulker stated simply, preparing to depart.

"I have a week to get ready and get to Wisconsin?" I yelped as the wings and rocketpack unfolded from the duo's power armor, sending the black and green figure blasting airborne and receding rapidly into the distance.

I stood there staring for a long moment as the full impact of that encounter hit home. It was _over_. No more Phantom, no more deadly hide and seek through the ruins. The fight was _finished_. I could go back to the village (it didn't seem right to call those few tamed acres a city), and tell everyone that I knew for certain that we could awaken from the nightmare, that Phantom was _gone_ and would _never_ return. Life could go forward again. I must have stood there with a gaping expression for at least five minutes before I let out a loud whoop that ricocheted wildly off the heaps of rubble, the sound echoing back to me off the debris.

I leapt aboard my jet sled and shot back toward the village, shouting with pure delight at the top of my lungs the whole way. It felt indescribably _good_ to engage in such jubilant antics, throwing my sled into reckless and carefree loops and spins. I saw people gawking up at me from the ground as I shot overhead sounding out the good news, crowing that the ghost was gone, we were safe, it was _over_.

By the time I actually landed at the camp, word had already spread that either Phantom was really gone, or that I had gone totally nuts. I could see where the latter rumor came from, I know I had to look positively wild, face flush from the freewheeling antics and all the shouting.

"Guys, he's gone!" I jumped from my sled and almost tackled Paulina and some of the other Patrol members in a giant bear hug. "He's gone, and he's _never_ coming back!"

\---

That had been a week ago. I was nearly to Vlad's estate, and I shamelessly confess that I was looking forward to being able to tell the crazy old hermit that "I told you so!"

I timed my arrival so that I would have some time to visit Danny's grave again, this time bringing a wreath of flowers I'd obtained from a small town florist not far off my flight path. I had already seen to my father's monument, a rough stone assembly, the inscription carved into the stone with a small ecto-gun. The least I could do for my friend was bring him flowers.

The grave was largely as it was when I last visited, but there was something... off. The early morning light gleamed brighter off a thin layer of dew maybe, or the breeze came warm from a southerly direction. I don't know, maybe it was just my own state of mind affecting my perceptions. The site didn't seem to have that same brooding atmosphere anymore, it felt more peaceful than sorrowful, for lack of a better description, like a great weight was lifted. I slipped beneath the green curtain, carefully draping the flowers I brought over the wooden cross.

"It's over, Danny." I smiled sadly. "We won. _You_ won, ten years ago. It's still going to be hard, but... We'll be able to recover now. We can rebuild, start putting things right."

I felt my throat tightening up and my vision clouded with tears. It wasn't the overwhelming sorrow it had been. It wasn't tears of joy, nor of relief. Awkward as it may sound, it was a sort of sad happiness, a light melancholy. Those who survived could go on with their lives at long last, but there would always be that pale shadow of those who didn't make it. "I guess you can finally really rest in peace, knowing that monster won't hurt anybody else ever again. I do still miss you, and I always will. But I think I'll make it. Goodbye, Danny."

My piece said, I slowly turned away, striding toward the cave entrance. I wasn't certain if my "escort" was waiting already or how long it would take to get to wherever I was going, so I figured it was better to be there early in the day and have to wait near the portal in the Ghost Zone than to be late. If nothing else, this party would prove to be an experience. I still wondered why they invited me; as Paulina had noted before I left, I **hunt** ghosts. But while I was armed, I vowed to myself to uphold this truce thing so long as the ghosts did. Both the real world and the Ghost Zone apparently had suffered by Phantom's hand, we had that much in common at the very least.

Vlad was already awake when I arrived, the old man looking little better or worse than when I'd stormed out of the cave last.

"Mornin', Masters." I couldn't keep the smug smirk entirely off my face.

"Good morning, Valerie." He replied as we both walked into the murky darkness of the ex-villain's cavern dwelling. "Accepting a _ghost's_ invitation and going to the Ghost Zone. How uncharacteristic of you, my dear."

"Things change. Maybe some of those spooks deserve a second chance." I retorted. "I'm guessing you already heard the news?"

Given the way Vlad exhaled in a loud sigh, I assumed he had. "Yes, I've heard about the truce and the party and about Daniel."

"I don't want to say it-" I paused, grinning. "Actually, yeah, I do. I **told** you so! Danny wouldn't lose that fight!"

"Yes, yes, you were correct about it, and I was in error. However, that _still_ fails to explain why the present for us remains unchanged. Surely that is a subject for concern?" Vlad settled into his preferred chair while I climbed onto my jet sled, staring into the swirling green vortex of the portal.

"Not really. Phantom's gone, and Amity Park _will_ recover. And that Clockwork guy is supposedly going to be at this party. Maybe he can answer that." I listened to the low whine of the sled's engines powering up. "Don't wait up for me."

"Believe me, I shan't." Vlad retorted as I shot through the portal and into the Ghost Zone.

It had been more than a decade since I last visited the ghosts' dimension, and truth be told, that place is freakishly daunting. From where I entered, I couldn't see the ground, just an endless spread of black and green, the void broken occasionally by small islands or purple doors and green plumes of... stuff. Ectoplasm clouds? I wouldn't know. My radar was beeping furiously for the obvious reasons, and after a moment of listening to the racket, I turned the device off and stood on my sled awaiting my escort.

To my mild surprise, it was Skulker and Technus that I spotted flying in my direction. It took only a minute or so for the giant ghost pair to arrive. "Welcome to the Ghost Zone." Skulker stated plainly.

"Are you ready, hunter girl?" Technus asked, though the answer should have been obvious. He noted the look on my face. "I take that as a yes."

"Mm-hmm." I glanced at Skulker. "So... where is this Mattingly estate?"

"This way." Skulker took off in what seemed to me a random direction. I fired the engines on my sled and took off after him. Boy, you could almost cut the awkward silence with a knife.

"So... I know what Phantom did to _my_ home, but what happened _here_?" I decided to break the silence. A basic knowledge of the Ghost Zone's equivalent to the rampages would likely be a good thing to have before I got to this party.

"The ghost-boy did a lot of the same things he did to your city." Technus griped.

"Indeed. We may not have had the same loses as in the human world, but it was terrible." Skulker agreed. "Largely any and all authority within the Ghost Zone was destroyed."

I quirked an eyebrow at that. The place _had_ some sort of central authority? That was news to me. "What'd he do?"

"You name it." Technus muttered. "Let's see... when he first got sent here, Walker captured him. We thought that was the end of it."

"Until he broke out of the prison and destroyed it." Skulker frowned, the expression rather imposing on his steel face. "And that was only the beginning. I was hunting him, of course. I still considered him my prey, and at the time I thought _you_ were still looking for him."

"Yeah... I _found_ him all right. Right before he started trying to destroy the city." I glared ahead at nothing in particular. "He killed a lot of people, tried to kill me. He maimed my father that day."

"Humans aren't the only ones he 'laid the smackdown' on, hunter girl. I was minding my own business when he burst into my lair, ripping this guy-" Technus glanced up at Skulker. "-into little bitty pieces."

"And if I recall, he was _about_ to do the same to you." Skulker shot an irked look down at his partner. "At which point, we agreed to work together."

"Not that it did much good." Technus frowned. "The ghost-child was on a total rampage. He almost destroyed the Mattinglys' castle, and anyone else who crossed him."

"He disappeared from the Ghost Zone for a while after that." Skulker glanced at me.

"Mm-hmm." I nodded, starting to piece the timeline of events together. "I'd guess that's when he got back to the real world and was kicking the military and my Patrol in the pants."

"I guess that explains all the 'newbies' that year." Technus looked mildly thoughtful. "How bad _was_ this pants-kicking?"

I snorted at the ghost's choice of wording and at the memory. " _Bad_. He killed a lot of people. I was in charge of the Patrol that was hunting him down and trying to chase him off."

"I see." Skulker rubbed his metallic chin in thought. "While he was busy dealing with you, we were planning for his return _here_."

"That ghost alliance you mentioned?" I assumed aloud.

"Indeed, possibly an alliance larger than the ancient one that sealed Pariah Dark ages ago. We first tried to fight the ghost-child en masse." Skulker frowned at whatever recollections the tale was dredging up. "The loses were extensive, and those who remained considered drastic measures to stop him."

"Drastic measures?"

"We talked that Clockwork guy into letting the ghost king out to fight Phantom!" Technus replied. They let _that_ hideously powerful ghost out?

"What happened?" I asked, eyes wide. I noticed what appeared to be a castle in the distance and drawing nearer, that was likely this castle I was told about.

"We all agreed that we would rather live under a tyrant than be destroyed by a demon." Skulker sighed heavily. "It worked, for a time. Pariah was still far more powerful than the ghost-child, but the whelp was too clever, and the ghost king was unable to destroy him."

I nodded slightly. That explained why Phantom had been absent for so long. If he was too busy fighting for his own life, he couldn't have come to bother Amity Park. It was a good thing, too. It seemed to me that if not for the time the ghost king bought, the anti-ghost shield would never have had a chance to be completed. Phantom would simply have returned to the human world once his injuries were mended and resumed his rampage.

"Yeah, and the ghost-kid was always growing stronger." Technus continued the tale. "That was a bad day when he destroyed the ghost king."

"Wait, Phantom _destroyed_ the ghost king? As in killed him?" I briefly considered how one went about killing a ghost.

"Indeed. Our alliance was shattered, and he disappeared again." Skulker seemed to be perturbed by the memory. "He didn't stay away for long."

"And that had to be when he ambushed the city in the middle of the night." I mused aloud. "And how come he got so powerful. Man, that was a _bad_ day in the real world, too. You two saw the ruins, right? Most of _that_ happened in Phantom's third rampage. The only thing that stopped him was the ghost shield."

"Wow. That _is_ a lot of demolition." Technus murmured. "That goes beyond mere pants-kicking."

"I don't know what exactly he did after the shield went up. Anything outside was destroyed, but I guess he had some way to come here?" I shrugged.

"Unfortunately." Skulker glowered into the distance. "For months he would run loose here. By that time, it was everything anyone could do merely to avoid encountering him. We attempted to hunt him down, stalking him through the expanse of the Ghost Zone."

"That didn't work, either." Technus pointed out. "And then he picked up that awful shrieking attack."

"The Ghostly Wail?" I filled in the name Phantom gave that technique, angrily remembering that day over half a year ago when he introduced it to Amity Park. "He used that to break the ghost shield. After that..." There was no need to finish the statement.

By now, we were both coming down to land before the castle, having passed battered statues at the gates. The place was abuzz with activity, full of ghosts of all shapes and sizes. It looked old, ripped right out of the Middle Ages. The ramparts looked cracked and damaged, though there was evidence that the stonework had been in far worse condition some time ago. In strangely stark contrast to the medieval theme was a large device on one of the towers that resembled a cross between a satellite dish and a television antenna.

The armored ghost I was with towered over the general population as Skulker scanned the crowd for someone. I caught sight of a green figure in a pale blue dress- a female ghost of some variety- making her way toward where I stood. Other ghosts made way for her, so I imagined she was either powerful or that she was the host of the party.

"Welcome! It's not every day that we have a human guest." The woman curtsied as she got over to where I stood. "I'm Dora, the current ruler of this castle. I'm sorry I don't actually know your name, Huntress. Such details don't often get this far into the Ghost Zone."

"Ur... pleased to meet you?" I guessed. It was an awkward situation, really. Surrounded on all sides by ghosts, and the nearest living human was an entire dimension away. "I'm Valerie. I didn't know I was known at all here, honestly."

Skulker and Technus wandered off to mingle, having apparently fulfilled their obligation in escorting me to the party. Dora beckoned me to follow her, the female ghost actually seemed to have a very pleasant demeanor, considering she was a ghost. "Many of the survivors credit your work in the human world for keeping the ghost-boy away, actually."

I quirked an eyebrow as we passed several ghosts and a table heavily laden with food. How the heck did they get real food in the Ghost Zone? I pushed that pointless question aside. "That's a little funny. Skulker told me about the alliance and that ghost king. I think that kept Phantom away from the human world long enough to set up defenses."

"Then it seems we've helped each other, doesn't it?" Dora  noted, a bemused smile on her green face.

"Hey, do you know if a ghost named Clockwork is coming?" I asked. If this ghost was so heavily involved in events, I wanted desperately to speak with him and find out what had happened. The ghost woman looked thoughtful, smoothing a wrinkle in her gown.

"Master Clockwork should be coming sometime later today." Dora replied. "He said he had some business to attend to first. Until then, please, enjoy yourself. Today is a celebration after all!"

I nodded slightly as the hostess pointed out several of the other guests, mentally taking note of the names. Johnny and his girlfriend Kitty off in a corner giving each other dopey romantic looks; a big ghost who I was surprised to learn was the Box Ghost I'd chased down once or twice in the past...

"Who's the little girl with him?" I asked Dora. The little ghost wasn't one I'd seen before.

"That's Box Lunch." Dora replied easily, every bit the polite host. "The daughter of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady."

Both my eyebrows shot up as I computed that one. Ghosts could _do_ that?. " _Ew_."

"I remember the wedding." Dora sighed with a dreamy expression. "My brother permitted them to be wed in the castle. He started to think of finding his own bride after that."

"Past tense-?" I inquired, still trying to get past that whole ghosts-having-children thing.

"My brother, Prince Aragon, was one of the first in the Ghost Zone to try and fight the ghost-boy after Walker's prison was destroyed. He was destroyed defending the castle." Dora nodded, her expression somber.

I frowned. I know I had fully intended to kill Phantom, but I guess I hadn't given much thought to the idea. I never really thought you could _kill_ something that was already dead. "Um... sorry to hear it?"

Dora shook her head slightly. "He was my brother, but he was quite unbearable. He fought valiantly, but I think things here have improved quite a bit. He resisted new ideas and modern things. That ban has been gone for years now."

"Is that why I saw that contraption outside?" I frowned, drinking in the knowledge.

"Yes, I've had a great deal of assistance modernizing the castle. It has been quite pleasant, really." Dora smiled as she excused herself to go greet some other ghost.

A big hairy ghost tromped over after Dora floated away, and I flinched back involuntarily. He was huge, covered head to toe in thick fur, with big teeth and claws, and a ragged green hoodie. I distantly recalled him from the ghost attack in Amity Park years ago that first put Danny in the spotlight and earned him the reputation of public ghost enemy #1. He looked a great deal more ragged than I recalled, his thick pelt crisscrossed now with a patchwork of scars.

"Vi esti la Huntress?" He asked, leaning down and sniffing at me.

I had no idea what he was saying, just that he was talking about me or to me. "Um... Yes? Can I help you?"

"Friends-" He enunciated the word carefully. "-deziri vidi vi."

Well, despite speaking some language I didn't know, and despite being a rather frightful looking giant undead canine, he seemed sociable enough. Something about being friends, I guess?

"Okay... I guess." I'm guessing my confusion was apparent, because the big ghost frowned as if concentrating.

"Follow?" His English was very heavily accented almost to the point I couldn't understand him, but he half-turned and motioned with his claws that I should follow.

"Okay..." I nabbed a glass of what looked to be punch from the table as I moved to follow the ghost. "So, what's your name? Everyone here knows me as the Huntress, but my name is Valerie."

"Mia nomo estas Wulf." The big ghost replied. At least it seemed he could understand English, even if he didn't seem to speak it. He frowned, a sad expression on his face as he continued talking. "Mia malnova amiko perfidi mi. Li provi al mortigi mi, kaj multa alia."

Well, he sounded awfully hurt about whatever he was talking about, I assumed it was Phantom. "Did Phantom attack you, too?"

"Jes." Wulf nodded. It sounded like a yes, at least. "Mi savi li de oni spirito, sed li ataki mi."

I tried to catch anything coherent from what he was saying. Something about a ghost attacking? I had fallen slightly behind the big ghost while concentrating on deciphering his speech, and nearly ran into him when he stopped walking. His bulk blocked my view as he glanced over his massive shoulder and flashed me a very toothy smile, his entire expression radiating a sort of happy smugness, like someone waiting to see a friend's reaction to a surprise gift.

"What-?" I started to ask.

"Via amiko?" Wulf asked with that toothy grin, stepping aside so I could see what was in front of him.

How can I describe my surprise? You would think in the wake of ten years of fighting Phantom, and after seeing Danny from the past that I would be somewhat jaded by now. I guess not.

"Hey, Valerie!"

"Valerie! Thank you _so_ much for stopping Danny!"

I sputtered incoherently at the two figures that both ran... no, _flew_ over and gave me enthusiastic hugs.

"B-b-but... how-?" I stammered around my shock as the two ghosts released me and floated back, both smiling at my shock.

I guess I should describe them, shouldn't I? Both figures were quite familiar, though time and... well, being ghosts had changed them both. The first stood about my height wearing a grey and yellow ensemble, his complexion a solid green color, short black hair hidden under a red beret, a pair of glasses perched on his nose. The other was clad in black and purple, a sharp contrast to her pale blue complexion. Her black hair was held partly up in a sassy little ponytail, and she looked me over with her sharp glowing violet eyes.

"What did you think would happen after an explosion like that?" The green ghost asked, his tone familiar despite it being ten years.

"Tucker-? Sam-?" I finally found my voice, squeaking the two names out.

"In the fle-..." Tucker interrupted himself. "Well, in the ectoplasm at least."

"We couldn't just leave Danny alone!" The other ghost, Sam grinned, her expression tinged slightly was sadness. "But things didn't work out right."

"Then... that night..." I was partly babbling from the shock at seeing the two of them. "Ten years ago, the hospital-"

Sam nodded. "We saw what happened to Danny." She shook her head slightly. "But there wasn't anything we could do then except _watch_ -!"

Tucker frowned, likewise saddened by the memory. "Yeah, we couldn't do anything, it was awful."

I can only imagine. Ten years ago, I had been agonizing over the decision to fight Phantom, not yet knowing what had happened to him. It had to be worse for them, having apparently witnessed Danny's death and the first moments of Phantom's new existence. I at least had some power to do something, they had been helpless, only able to watch their dearest friend suffer. And after seeing that, Sam had apparently made the extremely difficult and likely heartbreaking decision to convince me that the only living remains of the boy she liked needed to die. It had been a hard choice for me, but they had a history, they'd known each other for years. Sam and Tucker had probably been right there with Danny, facing down countless ghosts before they'd been killed in the blast.

I took two steps to close the distance between Sam and I, giving her a tight hug. "Thank you, Sam. I don't think I could have fought him without your help that night."

"I would have been there, too!" Tucker declared, shivering with fear. "Except... hospital... evil hospital."

We stood there in awkward silence for a long moment. What do you say on the heels of that?

"So... what have you guys been doing?" I finally asked lamely.

"Been showing a princess the joy of modern electronics!" Tucker beamed. I suddenly had a slightly nagging suspicion that the techno geek was pretty good friends with Dora. Or possibly more. I tried to keep the "Ew." thought from showing on my face.

"We were both trying to avoid Danny." Sam looked thoughtful. "Or I guess Phantom, like you call him."

I nodded slightly. "I couldn't stand the idea of calling that monster by Danny's name."

"And we were helping the other ghosts that he _did_ find." Tucker glanced over at Wulf. "Like this dude, he would've been toast without help."

It felt strange as we all stood there, but it also felt good. Grief at the deaths of Danny's friends was tempered by their apparent existence now as ghosts, both quite at home now in the Ghost Zone. We had ten years of stories to tell, of catching up on events. We must have talked away a good few hours. We swapped survival stories, toasted the "good old days", told stupid jokes that aren't all that funny but everyone laughs at them anyway. Heck, there was even karaoke, with a heavyset female ghost strumming away on her guitar. I was surprised to learn that pop idol Ember McLain from years ago was actually a ghost, and even more surprised to see how she looked now. She didn't sing, I was informed that her voice had been ruined by Phantom.

I was listening to Tucker being booed off stage when I felt something small and furry butt up against my leg. I looked down, surprised to see a little green dog ghost. My eyes widened as I recognized the puppy, the first ghost I ever really encountered, when I first started ghost hunting. The little dog looked a little more haggard than from my admittedly hazy memory. Years ago, the sight of the little monster would probably have been enough to send me into a gun-happy rage; now I merely looked down at him in mild surprise.

"Haven't seen you in awhile." I stated flatly, wondering if even animal ghosts held to the truce.

"Arf!" The puppy sat there, panting slightly, little tail wagging happily. On a whim, I tentatively reached out a hand for the dog to sniff. He hadn't transformed to his much meaner looking form, which I took for a good sign. He sniffed at my hand before he shifted to nuzzle his head against my palm. I was slightly surprised at how soft his bright green fur was.

"Guess he likes you." Sam noted with a slight amusement in her voice.

The scene suddenly froze, and I jumped to my feet wondering what just happened. A ghost appeared, and I fought down the instinct to grab my weapon and start blasting. He was tall, and well built, though he lacked legs. He was clothed in a purple colored outfit, with a hooded cape covering his head. What struck me most about his appearance were the clocks. He carried a staff with a clock in it, he had a multitude of watches strapped around his arms, it even appeared that he had a large clock inside his torso. In a moment, the puzzle snapped together in my mind. Clocks, stopped time... I assumed this ghost was Clockwork, and somehow he froze time.

"Hi?" I hazarded as his red eyes swept the room.

"Valerie Grey, the young woman who gave everything to stop the most powerful ghost in the world." He stated simply, with a calm, patient tone. Momentarily his appearance changed and he looked like an old man, with a long white beard. "And the medallion Danny Fenton had, I see."

I must have had a weird look on my face as the ghost suddenly turned into a toddler. That was certainly a distracting aspect of the ghost. "I'm gonna guess that you're this Clockwork guy I've heard about?"

He nodded once, returning to his original form. "Indeed, I am Clockwork, master of time. I understand you wished to speak with me?"

Not what I was expecting, I'll say that much. He seemed to be polite, if a bit distant. "Yeah... If you're the reason Danny ended up in this time... what happened? When he went back, I mean?"

"He faced his future." Clockwork replied with a cryptic tone. "And was given a difficult choice to make."

"A choice?" I raised an eyebrow, tuning out the frozen party around us.

"He won the battle, but was too weak to save his friends and family." Clockwork stated.

"Then Sam and Tucker and the Fentons-?" I gasped, horrified. After all that, everyone still died, that awful chain of events still happened?

Clockwork smiled slightly at my reaction. "Perfectly safe. Danny Phantom will _not_ become evil."

I frowned, both relieved at the news and confused. "Wait, so he _did_ change the past? But then... what about now? Why hasn't _that_ changed?"

Clockwork looked thoughtful for a moment. "Closure? Fine." His expression indicated that the ghost enjoyed discussing the subject of time. "Most people see time as a straight line, a single path going only from one beginning to one ending."

I nodded, that's what I had thought. It made sense to me.

"But time is like a river." The ghost smirked slightly at something that amused him, but I didn't know what it was. Maybe he'd given someone else a similar speech? "It flows in one direction, but it can branch off, separate streams taking different paths."

I gawked at the ghost, not quite comprehending what he was saying. "Separate streams?"

Clockwork shook his head slightly at my confusion. "You _are_ only twenty-four. The Danny Phantom of _this_ timestream has turned evil, and has been captured." At this, the ghost revealed a battered Fenton Thermos. I gasped, recognizing it as the very one I had given Danny before sending him back in time. "The Danny Phantom you saw has changed time. _His_ past has been altered, he will live to see a future far different from this one."

"Then... nothing's changed? Nothing _could_ change here?" I found myself crushed by this revelation.

"I wouldn't say that." Clockwork smiled slightly. "Danny Fenton is not the only one who learned something from all of this. He faced his future. You faced your past."

I paused, the ghost's words sinking in. "I did, didn't I-?" Now that it had been pointed out, I realized that a lot of the hatred that had carried me was gone. There would always be the sorrow over Danny's death, and my own guilt for my role in events, but the hate was gone; the automatic anger directed at all ghosts had drained away when I wasn't paying attention. "You planned for all this?"

The ghost didn't confirm nor deny it, he just smiled again. "Are you satisfied now?"

I nodded numbly. "It... makes a twisted sort of sense now. But how did you know?"

The ghost smirked at the question as he raised his staff, one hand on the button atop the device. "I have all the time in the world to learn things. I know _everything_. And I know you have one more meeting at this party to attend to." He clicked the button on his staff, voice carrying as he vanished. "TIME IN!"

I almost yelped when the party resumed, the green dog still clamoring for attention, Sam unaware of the exchange, and Tucker being chased off the stage by a flurry of tomatoes. The ghost had mentioned the medallion I was wearing... was that why I didn't freeze like everyone else when he stopped time?

"Arf! Arf!" The dog ran in circles around my legs, stopping briefly and sniffing the air, suddenly intent.

"He's sure hyper today." Sam noted, watching the antics. "What is it, boy?"

Tucker rejoined the two of us, wiping red paste from his face. "Man, I don't sing _that_ bad!"

Sam and I exchanged brief looks, the exchange interrupted suddenly by the dog throwing his head back and howling loudly.

"Cujo!" Sam yelped. "Knock it off!"

"What is it?" Tucker winced at the volume the little dog was capable of.

All eyes were on our little group as the dog, aptly named Cujo as I had just learned, took off running for the door.

"Should we go after him?" I asked, tapping the recall button on my armband. My sled purred to life, flitting over the heads of the other guests.

"Yeah, that's not like him." Sam frowned, floating into the air. "He hasn't been that excited since forever."

"Not since he trashed Axion Labs..." Tucker agreed, likewise going airborne. I hopped onto my sled, and the three of us chased after the hyperactive green dog. "Cujo! Heel!"

The dog paid the three of us no heed, running into the distance, clearly intent on something. I wasn't entirely certain, but it did seem we were flying through vaguely familiar territory. At least, I thought I recognized some of the doors and islands from my trip to the castle.

"Isn't this the way to Vlad's portal?" Sam asked Tucker as the pursuit continued.

"Yeah, but why would Cujo go there?" The techno-geek replied.

"I see something!" I shouted, pointing ahead.

Cujo was running circles again, barking happily, tail whipping back and forth. The green dog was occasionally jumping up and down, radiating sheer glee as the three of us finally caught up to him. Hovering there was the source of the little ghost's joy.

He looked tired, but content, even happy. His eyes shone a clear blue, the ambient light of the Ghost Zone striking glints of silver from his black hair. He was taller than I remembered, perhaps a few inches above my height, clad in jeans and t-shirt. He saw the three of us, all staring at him with matching looks of surprise, and smiled sheepishly, giving a little wave.

"Hey, guys. Sorry I'm late." He shrugged, smiling timidly. "It's been awhile."

I felt my heart skip a beat as it sunk in, and I'm sure Sam's reaction was about the same as mine. Tucker looked only slightly less stunned. On some unspoken signal, the three of us launched ourselves at him, hugging him tight, barely able to believe it.

" ** _DANNY!_** "

**-The End-**

**Author's Note:**

> For folks who read the original iteration forever ago, either on FFN, my DevArt, or on the old Danny Phantom Online Community forums, hi again! For newcomers who haven't previously come across "the saga," buckle in for a long one! Jeremiad is merely the first of the four multi-chapter fanfics focusing on the future timeline from The Ultimate Enemy.


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